St Mary's Catholic School

St Mary's Catholic School is a caring, safe and inclusive community where pupils and staff describe the school as feeling 'like a family'. This was its first section 5 inspection; it is part of the St Francis of Assisi Trust and has had a headteacher in post since March 2024. The quality of education is exceptional, behaviour and attitudes are exemplary, and pupils achieve consistently highly. The curriculum is well designed and delivered, reading is prioritised, pupils with SEND are well supported, and safeguarding is effective. Personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision are good. Pupils benefit from extensive trips, extra-curricular activities and strong careers provision, and sixth-form students enjoy a broad, challenging experience and act as positive role models. Leaders and the trust are bringing about effective and sustained improvement. The main area for improvement is PSHE: some aspects are not delivered as strongly as others, so some pupils have gaps in their knowledge. The school should continue to review and evaluate the effectiveness of its new PSHE curriculum.

Strengths

• Provides a caring, safe and inclusive community where pupils feel like family
• Has consistently high expectations that pupils rise to
• Delivers an exceptional, well-designed curriculum that is commonly understood
• Enables pupils to achieve consistently highly in public examinations
• Meets the needs of pupils with SEND effectively so they learn well and produce high-quality work
• Prioritises reading and supports struggling readers quickly and well
• Maintains exemplary pupil behaviour and a calm, polite school culture
• Offers extensive extra-curricular activities and trips that build confidence and resilience
• Provides strong careers provision with individualised advice and employer engagement
• Has effective safeguarding arrangements
• Benefits from energetic, determined leadership and trust support driving sustained improvement
• Sixth-form students enjoy a broad, challenging education and act as positive role models

Areas for Improvement

• Some aspects of the PSHE curriculum are not delivered as strongly, leaving gaps in some pupils' knowledge

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 Mary's Catholic School attended 94.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 14.7% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 3.3% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 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 Mary's Catholic School had 17.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.6% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 8.2% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 St Mary's Catholic School received £7,835 and spent £7,753 for each of its 1,121 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £852,000 (£760 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of St Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy Trust, income was £6,831 and spending £6,781 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 Bishop'S Stortford · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

St Mary's Catholic School is part of St Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School B/S Bishop'S Stortford
• St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School Ware
• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Ware
• St Augustine's Catholic Primary School Hoddesdon
• St Cross Catholic Primary School Hoddesdon
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Hertford) Hertford
• St Paul's Catholic Primary School Cheshunt
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Wx) Waltham Cross

What is St Mary's Catholic School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary's Catholic School is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

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

St Mary's Catholic School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does St Mary's Catholic School have?

St Mary's Catholic School has 1,106 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mary's Catholic School cover?

St Mary's Catholic School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Mary's Catholic School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 56.8, and 64% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Mary's Catholic School?

St Mary's Catholic School is at Windhill, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 2NQ.