St Mark's Catholic Primary School

St Mark’s Catholic Primary School is a happy, caring and vibrant community where pupils feel safe, attend well and behave politely and diligently. This was its first full graded inspection since converting to an academy in June 2022, and it is part of the St John Bosco Catholic Academy. Inspectors found the school performing well across the inspected areas, with calm classrooms, strong routines and a strong sense of pride among staff, pupils and families. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with reading placed at its heart and effective support for pupils with SEND and those learning English as an additional language. Personal development is a notable strength: pupils learn about safety, respect and community, and take part in a wide range of enrichment activities. Early years provision gives children a good start and connects well to key stage one. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. Two areas need improvement. Assessment is not consistently used well enough to spot misconceptions or adapt teaching for individual pupils, including those with SEND. In addition, school and trust monitoring does not always evaluate impact rigorously, so follow-up actions can lack precision and fail to bring about rapid improvement.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, safe and attend well in a caring school community.
• Behaviour is strong, with calm, orderly and purposeful classrooms.
• The curriculum is broad, ambitious and well sequenced across subjects.
• Early years provision gives children a strong start and links well to key stage one.
• Reading is central to the curriculum, with effective phonics and catch-up support.
• Pupils with SEND are identified effectively and mostly learn the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.
• Support for pupils who speak English as an additional language is carefully considered.
• Personal development is coherent and high quality, including safety, respect and community contribution.
• Staff are positive about the school, and their workload and well-being are considered.
• Governors and trust leaders provide supportive accountability and useful challenge.

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment is not used consistently well to check understanding, identify misconceptions and deepen pupils’ thinking.
• Teachers do not always adapt explanations and tasks to meet individual pupils’ learning needs, including those with SEND.
• Monitoring and evaluation of improvement work are not rigorous enough, so follow-up actions can lack precision.
• The school’s improvement actions do not always lead to the rapid progress intended.

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 Mark's Catholic Primary School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 9.1% 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 Mark's Catholic Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Mark's Catholic Primary School had 21.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 30.6% 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, 15.0% of pupils at St Mark's Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% 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 Mark's Catholic Primary School received £7,315 and spent £7,466 for each of its 208 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £40,000 (£194 per pupil).

Across all 56 schools of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, income was £7,565 and spending £7,594 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 Birmingham · Birmingham local authority: places and applications

St Mark's Catholic Primary School is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 64 schools. The nearest others:

• Holy Name Catholic Primary School Birmingham
• St John Bosco Catholic Primary School West Bromwich
• Stuart Bathurst Catholic High School Wednesbury
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School Wednesbury
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Dudley
• Bishop Milner Catholic College Dudley
• Corpus Christi Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• Holy Rosary Catholic Primary Academy Wolverhampton
• St Chad's Catholic Primary School Dudley

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

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mark's Catholic Primary School is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

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

St Mark's Catholic Primary School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does St Mark's Catholic Primary School have?

St Mark's Catholic Primary School has 207 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mark's Catholic Primary School cover?

St Mark's Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 60% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mark's Catholic Primary School?

St Mark's Catholic Primary School is at Almond Croft, Old Walsall Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands, B42 1NU.