St Catherine's Catholic Primary School

St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School is a fully inclusive, pupil-centred school that inspectors found to be performing well across all inspected areas. Pupils feel safe and benefit from a compassionate, friendly environment with strong positive relationships, high expectations and purposeful classrooms. They behave well, enjoy learning, attend regularly and take part in a wide range of trips, clubs and leadership opportunities. The school’s work on special educational needs and/or disabilities has improved pupils’ experience, and pupils do particularly well in English and mathematics. Reading is a clear strength, with consistent phonics teaching, effective catch-up support and a strong reading culture across year groups. Early years provision is also a strength, with a carefully considered indoor and outdoor environment. The school is part of Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, and inspectors found that the trust supports and checks its work well. Leaders are reflective and clear about improvement priorities, staff feel well supported, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Pupils’ wider development, including their understanding of safety, healthy relationships and British values, is threaded through the curriculum. There are two main areas for improvement. In a few subjects and in parts of the early years curriculum, the key knowledge pupils need to learn is not planned coherently enough, particularly in foundation subjects. Support for elements of pupils’ writing is also inconsistent across the curriculum, which means some pupils do not communicate their learning as well as they could.

Strengths

• Fully inclusive, pupil-centred culture with a compassionate and friendly environment.
• Pupils feel safe, behave well and show positive attitudes to learning.
• Strong, positive relationships underpin the school’s work and high aspirations for pupils.
• Effective adaptations and support for pupils with SEND have improved their experience.
• Pupils do well in English and mathematics and experience a rich, developing curriculum.
• Early years provision benefits from a carefully considered indoor and outdoor environment.
• Phonics is taught consistently, and extra reading support helps pupils catch up quickly.
• A strong reading culture gives pupils access to a wide variety of texts.
• Attendance is high, and staff work effectively with pupils and families to remove barriers.
• Pupils’ wider development, safety understanding and knowledge of British values are well supported.
• The trust supports and checks the school well, and leaders are reflective and improvement-focused.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Key knowledge is not coherently planned in a few subjects and parts of the early years curriculum, particularly foundation subjects.
• Support for developing elements of pupils’ writing is inconsistent across the curriculum, affecting transcription and accuracy for some pupils.

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 Catherine's Catholic Primary School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.2% 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 Catherine's Catholic Primary School 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 Catherine's Catholic Primary School had 14.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.2% 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, 10.5% of pupils at St Catherine's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.5% 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 Catherine's Catholic Primary School received £8,065 and spent £9,210 for each of its 164 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £27,000 (£163 per pupil).

Across all 39 schools of Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, income was £7,320 and spending £7,580 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 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne · Newcastle upon Tyne local authority: places and applications

St Catherine's Catholic Primary School is part of Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust, which runs 39 schools. The nearest others:

• St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Heaton Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Lawrence's Catholic Primary School Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Mary's Catholic School Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Our Lady and St Anne's Catholic Primary School Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Vincents Catholic Primary School, Newcastle Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Alban's Catholic Primary School, Walker Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Stephen's Catholic Primary School, Newcastle Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Michael's Catholic Primary School Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Columba's Catholic Primary School, Wallsend Wallsend
• St Charles' Catholic Primary School Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Catherine's Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

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

St Catherine's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in June 2025.

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

St Catherine's Catholic Primary School has 162 pupils on roll.

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

St Catherine's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 33% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Catherine's Catholic Primary School?

St Catherine's Catholic Primary School is at Greystoke Gardens, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE2 1PS.