St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy is a caring and inclusive Catholic primary school where pupils feel safe, behave well and benefit from a strong personal-development and pastoral offer. Attendance is in line with national averages and improving, bullying is rare, and safeguarding arrangements meet the expected standard. The school has recently been through significant leadership and staffing changes, including a newly appointed headteacher and chair of the local academy council, and it is part of The Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open and positive culture.
• Pupils feel a strong sense of belonging and attend in line with national averages.
• Behaviour is consistently good, with calm routines and rare serious incidents.
• Pupils have positive attitudes, respect others and benefit from effective dispute resolution.
• Personal development is comprehensive and woven through school life.
• Pupils learn age-appropriate life skills, online safety and British values.
• Pastoral support, including weekly nurture check-ins, is highly valued by pupils.
• Community outreach, such as linking elderly and young people, builds empathy.
• A range of educational visits and extra-curricular clubs enriches pupils' experience.
• Phonics is generally taught effectively and reading books match pupils' abilities.
• A new handwriting programme is improving letter formation and fluency.
• Leaders have an ambitious vision and a clear, accurate understanding of priorities.
• Staff wellbeing and workload are well supported, and staff are optimistic.
• Governance is realistic, reflective and fulfils statutory duties effectively.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding appropriately and have strengthened SEND identification.
• Early years provision meets statutory welfare requirements and has some early positives.

Areas for Improvement

• KS2 outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics are below or significantly below national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are well below national, with a large disadvantage gap.
• Many pupils have gaps in basic knowledge and skills that hinder achievement.
• Pupils are not well prepared academically for the next stage of education.
• Teaching is not consistently high quality across all subjects and classes.
• Curriculum is not yet sufficiently ambitious and high quality across all subjects.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND are not consistently effective or well matched.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not receive precise enough support in some subjects.
• Older pupils' reading misconceptions are not always quickly identified and corrected.
• Early years activities sometimes lack purpose, limiting children's learning and Year 1 readiness.
• Children with SEND in early years do not always receive support quickly enough.
• Extra-curricular attendance information is not used effectively to ensure clubs appeal to all pupils.
• Leadership improvement work is in early stages and impact cannot yet be measured.
• Governance acknowledges leaders historically did not act swiftly enough on weaknesses from last inspection.

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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 11.6% 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 Paulinus 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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy had 25.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 26.1% 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, 11.3% of pupils at St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.7% 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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy received £6,861 and spent £6,789 for each of its 374 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £115,000 (£307 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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy is part of Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy Dewsbury
• Holy Spirit Catholic Primary Academy Heckmondwike
• St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy Batley
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Batley
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• Our Lady of Lourdes 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 Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy have?

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy has 363 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy cover?

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 32% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy?

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy is at Temple Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, WF13 3QE.