Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is a calm, caring school where pupils feel safe, behave well and attend increasingly regularly. Inspectors found effective leadership and governance, a well-thought-through curriculum, strong personal development and inclusive practice. Reading is particularly well taught, and attendance and persistent absence have improved to be close to national averages. However, the school has weaknesses in achievement and early years provision. Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND have left, and continue to leave, below expected standards in writing and mathematics, leaving gaps that affect their readiness for secondary school. In early years, staffing turbulence has disrupted leadership and teaching consistency, so children do not get enough high-quality verbal interaction and make less progress than they could. Leaders also do not consistently evaluate the impact of support for disadvantaged pupils, and some teaching moves on too quickly before pupils have secured new learning. The school is part of St Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust, and leaders have already begun actions to address these issues, including plans to improve early years and support disadvantaged pupils. The next steps focus on raising attainment in writing and mathematics, ensuring gaps are identified and addressed before new content, evaluating disadvantaged pupil support, and embedding early years improvements. Safeguarding standards are met.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe, cared for and well understood in a calm, orderly school.
• Behaviour is positive, and pupils manage their behaviour and emotions well.
• Attendance and persistent absence are improving and are close to national averages.
• The curriculum is well thought through, with effective teaching and particularly strong reading provision.
• Pupils make positive progress from their starting points and are generally well prepared for secondary school.
• Inclusion is effective: staff identify barriers and adapt learning well for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders and governors know the school well, act decisively and are well supported by the trust.
• Personal development is a strength, with broad opportunities, strong pastoral care and promotion of British values.
• Staff value the support, professional learning and consideration of workload and wellbeing.
• Early years children are kept safe, well supervised and supported by strong routines and external partnerships.

Areas for Improvement

• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND achieve below expected standards in writing and mathematics.
• Gaps in writing and mathematics mean some pupils do not start secondary school at the expected level.
• Some pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils do not reach their full potential in writing and mathematics.
• Early years staffing turbulence has affected leadership and the quality and consistency of teaching.
• Children in early years miss high-quality verbal interactions and do not make as much progress as they could.
• Some teachers move on to new learning too quickly, leaving pupils without time to process new knowledge and skills.
• Leaders do not consistently evaluate the impact of actions and funding for disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders do not always know the best next steps or what difference strategies make for disadvantaged pupils.
• Recent early years improvements are not yet embedded well enough to ensure consistently good teaching and interactions.

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 Family Catholic Primary School attended 94.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.0% 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, 0.5% of pupils at Holy Family 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 Holy Family Catholic Primary School had 27.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 17.5% of pupils at Holy Family Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.6% 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 Family Catholic Primary School received £7,309 and spent £7,164 for each of its 204 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £50,000 (£245 per pupil).

Across all 14 schools of St Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,455 and spending £7,395 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 Worksop · Nottinghamshire local authority: places and applications

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is part of St Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 15 schools. The nearest others:

• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Sheffield
• St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Retford
• St Patrick's Catholic Primary School Doncaster
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School (Maltby) Rotherham
• St Bernard's Catholic High School Rotherham
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School Rotherham
• St Joseph's School, a Catholic Voluntary Academy Doncaster
• St Gerard's Catholic Primary School Rotherham
• The McAuley Catholic High School Doncaster
• St Peter's Catholic Primary School Doncaster

What is Holy Family Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Holy Family Catholic Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Holy Family Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Holy Family Catholic Primary School have?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School has 223 pupils on roll.

What age range does Holy Family Catholic Primary School cover?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Holy Family Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 52% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Holy Family Catholic Primary School?

Holy Family Catholic Primary School is at Netherton Road, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, S80 2SF.