Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport

Our Lady and St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, Maryport is a happy, nurturing Catholic primary where pupils achieve well, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. This was its first section 5 inspection; the school converted to academy status in 2022, is part of Mater Christi Multi-Academy Trust, and has had an interim executive headteacher since September 2024. Inspectors judged all key areas—quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years—to be good, with safeguarding effective. The school has a strong ethos, calm classrooms and high expectations. Pupils benefit from a broad curriculum with local relevance, strong reading provision, effective early years phonics, good spoken-language development and a wide range of enrichment activities. Pupils with SEND are identified early and included well, attendance has improved markedly, and staff feel supported. The trust and local governing body are seen as providing effective support and challenge. There are two main areas for improvement. In subjects where curriculums are more recently established, staff have not had enough time to identify and close gaps in pupils’ prior knowledge. The school’s approach to writing accuracy is also inconsistent: some pupils make repeated errors that are not consistently picked up or corrected.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy and staff care for them in a vibrant, nurturing school with a strong ethos.
• The school has high expectations and pupils achieve well, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Pupils typically behave well, and classrooms are calm and purposeful.
• The curriculum is broad and balanced, with relevant local history and geography content.
• Pupils with SEND are identified early and learn well alongside their classmates.
• A love of reading is fostered through well-chosen texts, an outdoor library pod and parent involvement.
• Early years provision prepares children well for phonics through stories, songs and rhymes.
• Staff deliver the phonics programme well and provide targeted early reading support.
• Pupils’ spoken language development is mostly successful, with articulate and purposeful discussion.
• Attendance strategies have had a markedly positive impact, especially for pupils with high persistent absence.
• Personal development is well provided for through safety education, pupil roles and community contributions.
• Staff feel valued and well supported, including through the staff charter.
• The trust and local governing body support and challenge the school effectively.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In more recently established curriculums, staff have not had time to fully address gaps in pupils’ prior knowledge.
• Some pupils have gaps in the knowledge needed to build future learning.
• The approach to writing accuracy is not focused enough, and repeated pupil errors are not consistently identified or remedied.

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 Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport attended 95.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.7% 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, 0.9% of pupils at Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport 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 Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport had 18.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 26.5% 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, 19.1% of pupils at Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.9% 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 Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport received £7,697 and spent £7,471 for each of its 203 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £320,000 (£1,578 per pupil).

Across all 16 schools of Mater Christi Multi-Academy Trust, income was £8,234 and spending £8,275 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 Maryport · Cumberland local authority: places and applications

Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport is part of Mater Christi Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 16 schools. The nearest others:

• St Josephs Catholic High School, Workington Workington
• St Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Workington Workington
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School Wigton
• St Margaret Mary Catholic Primary School, Carlisle Carlisle
• St Cuthberts Catholic Primary School, Carlisle Carlisle
• St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Penrith Penrith
• St Cuthberts Catholic Primary School, Windermere Windermere
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ulverston Ulverston
• Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, Dalton-In-Furness Dalton-In-Furness
• Dean Gibson Catholic Primary School, Kendal Kendal

What is Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport last inspected by Ofsted?

Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport have?

Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport has 204 pupils on roll.

What age range does Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport cover?

Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 54% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport?

Our Lady and St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Maryport is at Ennerdale Road, Maryport, Cumbria, CA15 8HN.