St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy

St Mary’s Catholic Primary Academy is a happy and settled school where pupils are respectful, kind and positive about their learning. Inspectors found the curriculum ambitious and largely successful in reflecting leaders’ high expectations, with strong reading provision, effective support for pupils with SEND, and calm, purposeful behaviour across the school. Pupils benefit from meaningful opportunities to contribute to school life, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. This was the school’s first section 5 graded inspection. It is part of the Blessed Peter Snow Catholic Academy Trust, and inspectors noted that governance and trust support are effective, while staff feel valued and well trained. The early years environment is engaging and well resourced, and personal development provision is well designed. The main areas for improvement are that teachers do not always check pupils’ learning carefully enough, so work can be mismatched and misunderstandings are not addressed quickly. Persistent absence remains too high for some disadvantaged pupils, and adult interactions in the early years do not consistently extend children’s vocabulary and language during play.

Strengths

• The curriculum is ambitious and reflects high expectations for pupils’ achievement.
• Pupils are deeply respectful and celebrate differences.
• Behaviour is calm and settled, and bullying is rare.
• Pupils have meaningful opportunities to contribute to school life.
• Pupils with SEND are identified robustly and supported well in lessons.
• Reading is prioritised, with highly skilled phonics teaching and effective catch-up support.
• The early years environment is well resourced, exciting and engaging.
• Personal, social and health education is well designed and responsive to local issues.
• Governance knows the school well and holds leaders to account effectively.
• Trust support has helped bring about positive curriculum changes.
• Staff feel valued, well trained and respected, with workload and well-being considered.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Teachers do not always check what pupils know carefully enough, so work is not consistently matched to pupils’ needs.
• Misunderstandings in pupils’ work are not always addressed quickly enough.
• Persistent absence remains too high for some disadvantaged pupils.
• Adult interactions in the early years do not consistently challenge children to use and practise growing vocabulary.

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 Primary Academy attended 94.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.0% 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, 1.0% of pupils at St Mary'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 Mary's Catholic Primary Academy had 18.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.1% 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, 15.1% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.6% 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 Mary's Catholic Primary Academy received £7,408 and spent £7,077 for each of its 287 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £99,000 (£345 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 Mary's 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 Halifax
• St Malachy's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Halifax
• Sacred Heart Catholic Voluntary Academy Sowerby Bridge
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Elland
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse Brighouse
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Huddersfield
• Our Lady of Lourdes 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 Mary's Catholic Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

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

St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy was last inspected in May 2025.

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

St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy has 272 pupils on roll.

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

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

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

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy?

St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy is at Swires Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 2ER.