St Michael's Catholic Primary School, Houghton

Type Primary / Academy converter
Age Range 4-11
Religion Roman Catholic
Address Durham Road
St Michael's Catholic Primary School
Houghton le Spring
Tyne and Wear
DH5 8NF
Phone 01915840542
Reference Number 147131

St Michael’s Catholic Primary School demonstrates overall good performance across all evaluated areas, including the quality of education and personal development of its pupils. The school fosters a supportive and inclusive environment, helping students feel safe and happy while nurturing their academic and personal growth. Despite facing challenges with staffing transitions, the leadership team under the trustees has effectively developed a comprehensive curriculum strategy. This has led to improvements and enables pupils to connect prior knowledge with new learning effectively. However, the school does face some challenges, particularly related to communication with parents, understanding of some protected characteristics among pupils, and ensuring all staff are equipped to support early reading effectively. The school is characterized by positive relationships among pupils, a strong commitment to improving educational outcomes, and proactive approaches to safeguarding. Pupils are engaged in various extracurricular activities, including sports, music, and crafts, which enhance their overall development. While there are notable strengths, there remains a need to address communication gaps regarding SEND and enhance staff training in early reading strategies to further elevate the teaching quality in certain subjects.

General Makeup

Number of pupils 200
Boy/Girl ratio Boys: 50.5%
Girls: 49.5%
Percentage of students eligible for free school meals 6%
Percentage of students where English is not their first language 5%

Class Sizes

Average size of one teacher classes 28.6
Average size of Key Stage 1 classes taught by one teacher 28.7
Average size of Key Stage 2 classes taught by one teacher 28.5

Year Groups

Year Boys Girls Total
1 17 13 30
2 16 13 29
3 17 12 29
4 10 16 26
5 17 12 29
6 14 16 30

Ethnicities

Ethnicity Percentage
White, British 87%
African 4.5%
White, Other 2.5%
Mixed, Other 1.5%
Asian, Other 1.5%
White & Asian 1%
Irish 1%
White & Black (Caribbean) 0.5%
White & Black (African) 0.5%

Overall Ofsted Rating Good
 >  Quality of education Good
  >  Behaviour & Attitude Good
  >  Personal Development Good
  >  Leadership & Management Good
  >  Early Years Provision Good
Last Report Date 04 May 2022
Date Report
04 May 2022 School inspection:
04 Jul 2019 Academy conversion letter
28 Mar 2017 Monitoring visit
Previously as St Michael's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School
28 Mar 2017 Monitoring visit
07 Jan 2011 Interim assessment
07 Jan 2011 Interim assessment
09 Oct 2007 Full inspection:
09 Oct 2007 Full inspection:
01 Dec 2003 Full inspection
01 Dec 2003 Full inspection

Strengths

  • Ambitious curriculum planned by leaders.
  • Inclusive environment where pupils feel safe and happy.
  • High expectations set by teachers, fostering positive attitudes to learning.
  • Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
  • Strong subject expertise among subject leaders.
  • Prioritization of reading and structured phonics programme.
  • Pupils engage well in extracurricular activities.

Areas for Improvement

  • Inconsistent communication with parents, especially regarding SEND.
  • Some staff lack knowledge in teaching early reading effectively.
  • Limited understanding of some foundation subjects by subject leaders.
  • Pupils' use of homophobic language due to lack of understanding of protected characteristics.

How many students meet the standards

Reading, Writing & Maths School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Pupils meeting the expected standard 87%
Pupils meeting a higher standard 10%

Average Scaled Score

Results are converted into scaled scores to allow accurate comparisons of performance over time even if the difficulty of the test varies over time. Scaled scores range from 80 to 120.

Subject School Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Reading 111
Maths 110

Progress Scores

A progress score is a way to measure how well a student progressed in comparison to other students of a similar starting ability. A score of zero means would mean that a student made the same progress as others that had a similar starting a ability. A positive score would mean that the student made more progress than other students of similar starting ability. The scores below are for the whole school so is the average progress score across all students.

Metric School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Reading -0.6
Writing -3.7
Maths -2.9

How many students meet the standards

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Average Scaled Score

Results are converted into scaled scores to allow accurate comparisons of performance over time even if the difficulty of the test varies over time. Scaled scores range from 80 to 120.

Sample

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Progress Scores

A progress score is a way to measure how well a student progressed in comparison to other students of a similar starting ability. A score of zero means would mean that a student made the same progress as others that had a similar starting a ability. A positive score would mean that the student made more progress than other students of similar starting ability. The scores below are for the whole school so is the average progress score across all students.

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2025 Admissions

Number of Applications Number of Offers
First Preference
Second Preference 20 2
Third Preference 4 0
From another Local Authority 0 0

Previous Years

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Name Distance
Bernard Gilpin Primary School
Hall Lane, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 8DA
0.4 miles
Houghton Le Spring Nursery School
Neasham Place, Houghton le Spring, DH5 8AE
0.56 miles
Gillas Lane Primary Academy
Seaton Avenue, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 8EH
0.67 miles
Burnside Academy Inspires
Burnside Estate, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 5HB
0.78 miles
Eppleton Academy Primary School
Church Road, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 9AJ
0.88 miles
East Rainton Primary School
School Road, East Rainton, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 9RA
0.92 miles
Dubmire Primary
Britannia Terrace, Fence Houses, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 6HL
1.16 miles
Newbottle Primary Academy
Houghton Road, Newbottle, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 4EE
1.22 miles
Hetton Primary School
Moorsley Road, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 9ND
1.4 miles
Hetton Lyons Primary School
Four Lane Ends, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 0AH
1.64 miles
Hetton Lyons Nursery School
Four Lane Ends, Houghton Le Spring, DH5 0AH
1.66 miles
Woodlea Primary School
Fence Houses, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 6AR
1.87 miles
West Rainton Primary School
West Rainton, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 6RN
2.2 miles
Bournmoor Primary School
Lambourne Close, Bournmoor, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 6HF
2.23 miles
Shiney Row Primary School
Rear South View, Shiney Row, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 4QP
2.25 miles
Easington Lane Primary School
High Street, Easington Lane, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 0JT
2.53 miles
Barnwell Academy
Whitefield Estate, Penshaw, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 7RT
2.67 miles
Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Primary School, Penshaw
Station Road, Penshaw, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 7JZ
2.68 miles
Lumley Junior School
Cocken Lane, Great Lumley, Chester le Street, County Durham, DH3 4JJ
2.7 miles
Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy
Marcross Drive, Moorside, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 2RE
2.72 miles
Name Distance
Kepier
Dairy Lane, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH4 5BH
0.3 miles
Hetton Academy
North Road, Hetton-le-Hole, Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear, DH5 9JZ
1.31 miles
The Poplars
Miners Lodge, Market Crescent, New Herrington, Houghton le Spring, DH4 7AP
2.28 miles
Portland Academy
Weymouth Road, Chapelgarth, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 2NQ
2.84 miles
Farringdon Community Academy
Allendale Road, Sunderland, SR3 3EL
3.14 miles
Elemore Hall School
Pittington, Elemore Hall School, Durham, DH6 1QD
3.16 miles
Sandhill View Academy
Grindon Lane, Thorney Close, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 4EN
3.99 miles
St Robert of Newminster Catholic School and Sixth Form College, Washington
Biddick Lane, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 8AF
4.06 miles
Park View School
Church Chare, Chester le Street, County Durham, DH3 3QA
4.1 miles
Belmont Community School
The Links, Belmont, Durham, DH1 2AG
4.17 miles
Biddick Academy
Biddick Lane, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 8AL
4.25 miles
Venerable Bede Church of England Academy
Tunstall Bank, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR2 0SX
4.28 miles
Seaham High School
Station Road, Seaham, County Durham, SR7 0BH
4.32 miles
Christ's College
Pennywell Road, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR4 8PG
4.4 miles
Thornhill Park School
Portland Road, Plains Farm, Sunderland, SR3 1SS
4.4 miles
Academy 360
Portsmouth Road, Sunderland, SR4 9BA
4.43 miles
City of Sunderland College
Bede Centre, Durham Road, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 4AH
4.66 miles
Hermitage Academy
Waldridge Lane, Chester le Street, County Durham, DH2 3AD
4.88 miles
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