St Gildas Catholic Primary School

St Gildas Catholic Primary is a warm and diverse school where pupils are happy, behave well and feel safe. This was its first section 5 inspection, and it is part of The Dunstan Catholic Educational Trust; it has two interim co-headteachers following significant leadership change. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision are good, while quality of education and leadership and management require improvement. The strongest work is in early years and phonics. Children in Reception benefit from a well-designed curriculum, strong language and communication support, and effective help for pupils who speak English as an additional language. Pupils develop a love of reading, understand safety including online, and take part in a range of extracurricular activities and trips. Safeguarding is effective. However, the wider curriculum is new and underdeveloped in most subjects. It does not set out precisely what pupils should learn and when, and teaching varies too much. Checks on learning are not used well enough to spot gaps, particularly for younger pupils and those with SEND, and staff have not had enough support to deliver recent changes. Leaders' evaluation and governance are not yet strong enough to drive improvement, although appropriate plans are in place and it is too early to judge their impact.

Strengths

• Warm, diverse and inclusive community that helps new pupils settle quickly
• Strong support for pupils’ well-being and positive staff-pupil relationships
• Good behaviour and a calm, orderly environment, with bullying extremely rare
• Effective support for pupils who speak English as an additional language
• Well-established phonics programme with reading books matched to pupils’ sounds
• Strong early years provision, including language and communication development
• Pupils develop a love of reading and a strong understanding of safety, including online
• Accurate identification of pupils with SEND and effective work with external agencies
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Range of extracurricular activities and trips that support personal development

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum is underdeveloped in most subjects, with unclear knowledge sequence and resources
• Too much variability in how teachers implement the curriculum
• Checks on pupils’ understanding are not used effectively to identify gaps
• Younger pupils and pupils with SEND can struggle when new content is introduced
• Learning is not consistently adapted to build independence for pupils with SEND
• Staff have not been sufficiently supported through recent curriculum changes
• Leaders’ monitoring and evaluation of curriculum impact is in its infancy
• Local governing committee lacks detailed information to challenge and support effectively
• Leadership changes and new trust support mean impact cannot yet be measured

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 Gildas Catholic Primary School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.7% 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 Gildas Catholic Primary School 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 Gildas Catholic Primary School had 23.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 29.5% 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, 13.5% of pupils at St Gildas Catholic Primary School 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 Gildas Catholic Primary School received £6,374 and spent £5,988 for each of its 219 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £397,000 (£1,811 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of The Dunstan Catholic Educational Trust, income was £6,402 and spending £6,277 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 Yeovil · Somerset local authority: places and applications

St Gildas Catholic Primary School is part of The Dunstan Catholic Educational Trust, which runs 13 schools. The nearest others:

• Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary Wincanton
• St Joseph and St Teresa Catholic Primary School Wells
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Bridgwater Bridgwater
• St Benedict's Catholic Primary School Radstock
• St Louis Catholic Primary School, Frome Frome
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary and Nursery School Burnham-On-Sea
• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Weston-Super-Mare
• St John's Catholic Primary School Bath
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School Bath
• Christ The King Catholic School, Amesbury Amesbury

What is St Gildas Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Gildas Catholic Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in October 2024.

When was St Gildas Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Gildas Catholic Primary School was last inspected in October 2024.

How many pupils does St Gildas Catholic Primary School have?

St Gildas Catholic Primary School has 208 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Gildas Catholic Primary School cover?

St Gildas Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are St Gildas Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 73% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Gildas Catholic Primary School?

St Gildas Catholic Primary School is at Mary Street, Yeovil, Somerset, BA21 4EG.