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St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Primary Ages 5-11 114 pupils
Ofsted: Good
All schools in Tendring

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is an academy converter in Tendring for pupils aged 5 to 11. It has a Roman Catholic religious character. It has 114 pupils on roll. The latest Ofsted rating for St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in February 2017 of its predecessor, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Harwich. In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Ofsted inspection: June 2023. KS2 results: 2025.

Type Primary / Academy converter
Age Range 5-11
Religion Roman Catholic
Address The Drive
Dovercourt
Essex
CO12 3SU
Phone 01255503493
Reference Number 148110

General Makeup

Number of pupils 114
Boy/Girl ratio Boys: 48.25%
Girls: 51.75%
Percentage of students eligible for free school meals 10.5%
Percentage of students where English is not their first language 14.9%

Class Sizes

Average size of one teacher classes 28.5

Year Groups

Year Boys Girls Total
1 10 7 17
2 5 9 14
3 9 7 16
4 6 10 16
5 8 9 17
6 11 6 17

Ethnicities

Ethnicity Percentage
White, British 71.9%
White, Other 9.6%
African 9.6%
White & Asian 4.4%
White & Black (African) 1.8%
Indian 0.9%
Unclassified 0.9%
Irish 0.9%

This school has not been graded since it changed URN, usually on converting to an academy. The rating shown is from its predecessor, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Harwich, inspected in February 2017.

Overall Ofsted Rating Good
Last Report Date 04 May 2023 – no overall grade published for this inspection
Date Report
04 May 2023 School inspection
04 Sep 2020 Academy conversion letter
08 Feb 2017 Short inspection
Previously as St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Harwich
14 May 2012 Full inspection:
07 Jan 2011 Interim assessment
24 Apr 2008 Full inspection:
20 Jun 2005 Full inspection

How many students meet the standards

Reading, Writing & Maths School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Pupils meeting the expected standard 53%
Pupils meeting a higher standard 6%

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 105
Maths 103

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 1.4
Writing -0.4
Maths 1.3

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.

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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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Reception admissions, 2026 entry

Number of Applications Number of Offers
First Preference
Second Preference 13 0
Third Preference 3 0
From another Local Authority 0 0

Previous years

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Places and pupil numbers

In 2024–25 St Joseph's Catholic Primary School had 114 pupils for 119 places. 5 places (4.2%) were unfilled.

Pupils and places

Reception intake in the “Tendring Primary C: Northeast (Dovercourt & Harwich)” planning area

Essex counted 251 Reception pupils in this area in 2024–25 and forecasts 220 in 2029–30, down 12%.

20212022202320242025
Places 119119119119119
Pupils 117112113116114
Unfilled 1.7%5.9%5.0%2.5%4.2%

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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School attended 95.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.9% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

20212022202320242025
Authorised absence 2.1%5.2%5.1%4.2%3.2%
Unauthorised absence 0.3%1.1%1.2%1.2%1.3%
Severely absent pupils 0.0%0.0%1.9%1.0%0.0%

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, 0.9% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

20212022202320242025
Suspensions per 100 pupils 2.51.80.02.60.9
Permanent exclusions 00000

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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School had 21.1 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

202120222023202420252026
Pupils per adult 9.78.89.49.710.911.9
Teachers who left state teaching 14.3%0.0%0.0%0.0%0.0%–
Teachers who took any sick leave –44.4%66.7%60.0%85.7%–
Sick days per teacher –16.01.31.33.4–

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, 14.0% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

SEN support EHC plan
Speech, language and communication needs 6 0
Autistic spectrum disorder 3 2
Social, emotional and mental health 4 1
Moderate learning difficulty 1 0
No specialist assessment of need 1 0
Severe learning difficulty 1 0

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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School received £7,587 and spent £6,551 for each of its 112 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £112,000 (£1,000 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of The Rosary Trust - A Catholic Multi Academy, income was £7,679 and spending £7,558 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

2021202320242025
Revenue reserve £112,000£12,000£1,000£112,000
per pupil £941£107£9£1,000
In-year balance £21,000-£53,000-£11,000£116,000
per pupil £176-£473-£95£1,036

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.

Name Distance
The Mayflower Primary School
Main Road, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex, CO12 4AJ
0.49 miles
All Saints' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Dovercourt
Main Road, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex, CO12 4HT
0.54 miles
Spring Meadow Primary School & Nursery
Pound Farm Drive, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex, CO12 4LB
0.56 miles
Chase Lane Primary School and Nursery
Chase Lane, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex, CO12 4NB
0.95 miles
Harwich Community Primary School and Nursery
Barrack Lane, Harwich, CO12 3NS
1.05 miles
St Michael's CofE Primary Academy, Ramsey
Mayes Lane, Ramsey, Harwich, Essex, CO12 5EL
1.86 miles
Shotley Community Primary School
Main Road, Shotley, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 1NR
2.74 miles
Langer Primary Academy
Langer Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 2HL
3.35 miles
Grange Community Primary School
Grange Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 2LA
3.51 miles
Felix Primary School
Maidstone Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9ED
4.02 miles
Trimley St Mary Primary School
High Road, Trimley St Mary, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 0ST
4.08 miles
All Saints Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Great Oakley
Beaumont Road, Great Oakley, Harwich, Essex, CO12 5BA
4.16 miles
Fairfield Infant School
High Road West, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9JB
4.43 miles
Colneis Junior School
Colneis Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9HH
4.86 miles
Chelmondiston Church of England Primary School
Woodlands, Chelmondiston, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 1DT
4.96 miles
Name Distance
Harwich and Dovercourt High School
Hall Lane, Harwich, Essex, CO12 3TG
0.28 miles
Felixstowe School
High Street, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9QR
4.02 miles
Felixstowe International College
Maybush House, Maybush Lane, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 7NA
4.96 miles

All schools in Tendring · Essex local authority: places and applications

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is part of The Rosary Trust - A Catholic Multi Academy, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

What is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in February 2017 of its predecessor, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Harwich.

When was St Joseph's Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in June 2023.

How many pupils does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School have?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School has 114 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School cover?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are St Joseph's Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is at The Drive, Dovercourt, Essex, CO12 3SU.

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