St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy

St Aelred’s Catholic Primary School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating across all inspected areas. The school demonstrates a strong commitment to its values of friendship, courage, and respect, creating a positive and inclusive environment where pupils are proud to learn. Recent leadership changes have led to improvements in curriculum planning and teaching, with a specific focus on early reading and mathematics. The school effectively meets the needs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), ensuring they receive timely support to thrive alongside their peers. However, there are some areas that require attention. While behaviour has improved significantly, occasional incidents still cause concern among some pupils. Furthermore, the implementation of the wider curriculum is inconsistent across key stages, and the development of leadership roles beyond senior leaders needs enhancement. Overall, the school is well on its way to embedding improvements and fostering a culture of high expectations.

Strengths

• Welcoming environment with strong school values
• Strong and ambitious leadership driving improvements
• Rigorous and well-planned curriculum
• Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
• Consistent and focused phonics teaching
• Engaging after-school activities promoting socialization and learning

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistencies in the implementation of the wider curriculum
• Occasional behaviour incidents causing concern among some pupils
• Underdeveloped leadership roles beyond senior leaders

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy attended 94.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.3% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.6% of pupils at St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy had 18.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 22.3% of pupils at St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy received £7,388 and spent £7,993 for each of its 175 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £115,000 (£655 per pupil).

Across all 38 schools of Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, income was £7,521 and spending £7,443 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in York · York local authority: places and applications

St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy is part of Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 38 schools. The nearest others:

• St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy York
• St George's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy York
• All Saints Catholic School York York
• Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy York
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy Malton
• St Benedict's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy York
• All Saints Catholic Primary School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy Thirsk
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy Pickering
• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School - a Catholic voluntary academy Northallerton
• St Hedda's Catholic Primary School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy Whitby

What is St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy is Good, from an inspection in March 2024.

When was St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy was last inspected in March 2024.

How many pupils does St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy have?

St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy has 175 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy cover?

St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 52% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy?

St Aelred's Catholic Primary School - a Catholic Voluntary Academy is at Fifth Avenue, York, North Yorkshire, YO31 0QQ.