Holy Spirit Catholic Academy

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy is a rapidly improving primary school that was judged good in all inspected areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This was its first routine section 5 inspection since becoming an academy in April 2022, and its predecessor school had previously been judged inadequate. The school is part of the St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, and inspectors found strong trust and governor support alongside high staff morale despite significant recent change.

Strengths

• Pupils behave well, show respect and contribute to a happy, orderly school.
• Strong relationships between pupils and staff ensure pupils feel cared for and safe.
• The ambitious curriculum is well designed and delivered effectively in most subjects.
• Pupils with SEND are identified effectively and supported well through careful teaching adaptations.
• Early years provision is strong, especially in developing spoken language through songs, rhymes and stories.
• Most children build phonics knowledge effectively from Reception and read books matched to known sounds.
• Personal development is impressive, with rich experiences that build character and resilience.
• Leaders, trustees and governors provide insightful support and challenge, and staff morale is high.
• Attendance and punctuality are improving through successful work with parents and the breakfast club.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Support for some pupils who struggle with reading is not as effective as it could be, slowing their progress in fluency and accuracy.
• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent in a small number of foundation subjects, leaving pupils' knowledge uneven.
• Teachers in those remaining subjects need clearer guidance on what knowledge must be taught, emphasised and recalled.

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 Holy Spirit Catholic Academy attended 92.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 26.0% 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, 2.4% of pupils at Holy Spirit Catholic 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 Holy Spirit Catholic Academy had 15.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.3% 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, 36.4% of pupils at Holy Spirit Catholic 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 Holy Spirit Catholic Academy received £9,041 and spent £8,524 for each of its 162 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £500,000 (£3,097 per pupil).

Across all 10 schools of St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £9,073 and spending £8,887 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 Bootle · Sefton local authority: places and applications

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy is part of St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Notre Dame Catholic Academy Liverpool
• The Trinity Catholic Academy Liverpool
• St Nicholas Catholic Academy Liverpool
• St Charles' Catholic Academy Liverpool
• St Francis Xavier's Catholic Academy Liverpool
• St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy St. Helens
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Academy St Helens
• St Ambrose Catholic Academy Liverpool
• Blessed Carlo Acutis Catholic and Church of England Academy Runcorn
• Holy Family Catholic Academy Wigan

What is Holy Spirit Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holy Spirit Catholic Academy is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Holy Spirit Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Holy Spirit Catholic Academy have?

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy has 151 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holy Spirit Catholic Academy cover?

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Holy Spirit Catholic Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 48% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Holy Spirit Catholic Academy?

Holy Spirit Catholic Academy is at Poulsom Drive, Holy Spirit Catholic Academy Poulsom Drive, Bootle, Merseyside, L30 2NR.