St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Academy is a warm, caring school where pupils feel safe and families speak highly of the staff. Behaviour is positive and respectful, classrooms are calm, and leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school has a strong reading culture, a well-organised curriculum in most foundation subjects, and a broad personal development offer with good attendance and effective safeguarding. It joined the Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust in 2021 and had not previously been inspected under section 5. The main area needing improvement is early years, where the curriculum is variable and does not clearly identify the knowledge children need or account for their different starting points. In a few subjects, essential curriculum knowledge is not yet clearly identified or well sequenced. In core subjects, staff sometimes do not address pupils’ gaps and misunderstandings promptly, meaning some pupils, including those with SEND, move on to new learning before they are ready. Overall, the school is performing well in most areas, with effective leadership, positive behaviour, strong personal development and good progress in reading. The priorities are to sharpen the early years curriculum, clarify and sequence essential knowledge in the remaining subject areas, and ensure staff consistently close gaps in pupils’ learning.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and are well cared for in a warm, positive atmosphere.
• The school has a positive approach to behaviour that creates calm classrooms.
• Leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including pupils with SEND.
• The school has successfully developed a positive reading culture.
• Structured early reading support helps younger pupils at risk of falling behind.
• The reading curriculum is sequenced well into key stage 2.
• Most foundation subjects, such as PE, have a well-organised curriculum.
• Personal development is broad, including health, safety, differences and faith.
• A wide range of extra-curricular clubs is available to all pupils.
• Attendance is good, supported by strong relationships with families.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Staff feel well supported by leaders and parents value communication.

Areas for Improvement

• The early years curriculum is variable and does not clearly identify essential knowledge.
• Early years teaching does not consistently account for children’s varied starting points.
• Some children are taught new knowledge before they have the basic skills and understanding they need.
• In a few subjects, essential knowledge is not accurately identified or clearly sequenced.
• Staff sometimes do not address gaps and misunderstandings promptly, so some pupils move on before they are ready.

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 93.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.0% 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, 2.4% 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 23.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.4% 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, 12.3% of pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.9% 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 £7,322 and spent £7,059 for each of its 205 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £58,000 (£283 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 Dewsbury · Kirklees 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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy Dewsbury
• St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy Batley
• Holy Spirit Catholic Primary Academy Heckmondwike
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Batley
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse Brighouse
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Elland
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy Halifax

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 212 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, 68% 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 Healds Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, WF13 4HY.