St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy is a warm and welcoming school where pupils are happy, safe and respectful. This was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and its first section 5 inspection; the school is part of Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust and has a new headteacher in post since September 2024. Inspectors found the school performing well across the key judgements, with strong pastoral support, good behaviour and a broad, ambitious curriculum that is logically sequenced from the early years. The school's strengths include consistently strong phonics teaching, effective support for pupils with SEND, a well-developed early years provision and a wide personal development offer. Leaders have made carefully considered improvements in a short time and staff feel well supported. Safeguarding arrangements are effective, and attendance including persistent absence has improved over time. The main areas for improvement are the inconsistent implementation of agreed teaching approaches in a few subjects, some subject leaders not yet having the expertise to check curriculum delivery and support staff, inconsistent expectations for pupils' written work and presentation, and some pupils still not attending school often enough. The school has recently introduced systems to improve attendance further and needs to secure sustained and regular attendance.

Strengths

• Warm and welcoming school with a strong family feel
• Pupils are polite, respectful and have positive relationships with adults and each other
• Pupils are safe and behaviour is good across lessons, breaktimes and lunchtimes
• The curriculum is ambitious, broad and logically sequenced from the early years
• Phonics is taught consistently by well-trained adults and reading books are accurately matched to pupils' phonic knowledge
• Pupils with SEND are clearly identified and lessons are adapted successfully to help them participate confidently
• Early years provision develops children's language, vocabulary, reading, writing and mathematical knowledge well
• The pastoral offer is strong, including mental health support and help for families in need
• Personal development is broad, with Pupil Parliament, charity work, clubs, music tuition and educational visits
• Leadership has built capacity to improve the school and staff feel well supported
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Attendance and persistent absence have improved over time
• Pupils understand equality and respect diversity

Areas for Improvement

• In a few subjects, agreed teaching approaches are not consistently implemented, so some pupils do not learn as well as they could
• Some subject leaders lack the expertise to check that their subject curriculum is taught as intended and to support staff where needed
• Some pupils' written work has inconsistent letter formation and lacks pride, and teachers do not consistently address this
• Some pupils do not attend school often enough, so they miss important learning and do not make the progress they should
• Recently introduced attendance systems need to be developed further to secure sustained and regular attendance

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 Academy attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.8% 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, 0.0% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy had 38.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 43.3% 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, 19.0% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.9% 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy received £7,144 and spent £7,685 for each of its 146 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £31,000 (£212 per pupil).

Across all 14 schools of Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust, income was £7,042 and spending £6,738 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 Halifax · Calderdale local authority: places and applications

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy is part of Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy Halifax
• St Malachy's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Halifax
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse Brighouse
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Elland
• Sacred Heart Catholic Voluntary Academy Sowerby Bridge
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• Holy Spirit Catholic Primary Academy Heckmondwike
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Batley

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in October 2024.

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

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy was last inspected in October 2024.

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

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy has 137 pupils on roll.

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

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 95% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy?

St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy is at Portland Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX3 6LA.