St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School

St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School is a smaller-than-average Roman Catholic primary in Blyth, part of Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust. This was a full section 5 inspection in June/July 2026, with an interim leadership team in place since September 2025 while the substantive headteacher was absent. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school is fulfilling expected standards in attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Achievement and early years are the two areas needing attention. Leaders have acted quickly and strategically, with trust support, to improve curriculum, teaching and inclusion. Attendance has improved markedly, including for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, and persistent absence has fallen. Pupils behave well, feel safe and are positive about school, and parents are highly supportive. Provision for pupils with SEND and vulnerable pupils is typically effective, and personal development is a clear strength. Recent work on phonics and the wider curriculum is beginning to show positive impact. However, published outcomes remain below national in several measures, especially mathematics and combined reading, writing and mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils have persistent gaps. Some pupils have unresolved gaps in foundational knowledge, and progress is inconsistent across year groups and subjects. Early years teaching is not consistently strong enough, particularly for early writing and high-quality talk. A small proportion of pupils remain persistently absent, and the impact of recent improvements is not yet fully embedded or reflected in outcomes.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Leaders place a high priority on attendance, and overall attendance has improved considerably over time.
• Attendance for pupils with SEND has improved faster than for pupils with SEND nationally.
• Persistent absence rates for pupils with SEND and pupil premium pupils have improved substantially.
• Classrooms are calm and purposeful, and pupils behave well with positive attitudes to learning.
• Pupils say friendship issues and rare bullying or discriminatory behaviour are dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Leaders have a clear strategic understanding of curriculum quality and have secured evident improvements in subject curriculums and teaching.
• Phonics teaching has improved, leading to significant increases in the proportion of Year 1 pupils meeting the required standard.
• Pupils, including those with SEND, generally have the basic reading skills they need to access the wider curriculum.
• The school is inclusive, with well-targeted professional development helping staff identify and meet pupils' needs swiftly.
• Support plans, including personal education plans, have improved, and provision for pupils with SEND and other vulnerabilities is typically effective.
• Pupil premium funding is targeted well, with notable impact in mathematics for disadvantaged pupils.
• The interim leadership team works quickly, identifies suitable priorities, and takes action in pupils' best interests.
• Governance fulfils statutory duties and has effective mechanisms for checking information and holding leaders to account.
• Leaders have prioritised staff wellbeing and workload, and the vast majority of staff reflect this positively.
• Parents and carers are highly supportive and positive about the support, care and inclusivity of the school.
• Personal development is a clear focus, with a coherent programme promoting British values, health, relationships education and understanding of diversity.
• Pastoral support is effective, and pupils speak positively about initiatives such as reflection group work.
• Early years leaders have clear expertise and ambition, and children typically secure foundational phonics and number knowledge.
• Children in early years are happy, safe and demonstrate sustained engagement and independence.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement needs attention because pupils' attainment and progress through the curriculum have not been good enough over time.
• Published outcomes remain below national in several measures, including combined reading, writing and mathematics and mathematics.
• Disadvantaged pupils have persistent gaps compared with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally, especially in mathematics.
• Some pupils have gaps in foundational knowledge that were not sufficiently resolved in the past, limiting their progress and readiness for the next stage.
• Progress remains inconsistent across year groups and curriculum subjects.
• Improvements to curriculum and teaching are not yet fully embedded and are too recent to show a corresponding impact on key stage 2 achievement.
• Early years needs attention because the way the curriculum is taught is inconsistent.
• Some early years activities lack purpose or sufficient focus, and opportunities to develop early writing skills are sometimes not effective.
• Staff do not consistently engage children in high-quality conversation to embed key vocabulary, skills and knowledge, so some children do not achieve as well as they should.
• A small proportion of pupils remain persistently absent from school, limiting their learning and social opportunities.
• Leaders need to ensure recent curriculum and teaching improvements result in consistently highly effective teaching so pupils make rapid progress.
• Leaders need to continue reducing persistent absence so pupils do not miss important learning and time with peers.

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 Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.8% 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, 1.7% of pupils at St Wilfrid'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 Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School had 18.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 3.4% 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, 11.5% of pupils at St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.8% 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 Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School received £7,871 and spent £8,185 for each of its 229 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £70,000 (£305 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 Blyth · Northumberland local authority: places and applications

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

• St Bede's Catholic Primary School Bedlington
• St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy Bedlington
• St Aidan's Catholic Primary School, Ashington Ashington
• Ss Peter and Paul's Catholic Primary Academy Cramlington
• Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Whitley Bay Whitley Bay
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Cullercoats North Shields
• St Marys Catholic Primary School, Forest Hall Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• St Thomas More Catholic High School North Shields
• St Roberts Catholic First School, Morpeth Morpeth
• St Stephen's Catholic Primary School, Newcastle Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

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

St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

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

St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School has 217 pupils on roll.

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

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

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

In 2025, 47% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School?

St Wilfrid's Catholic Primary School is at Claremont Terrace, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 2LE.