St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Neath), Neath

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Neath) is an English-medium school in Wales. Welsh schools are inspected by Estyn rather than Ofsted, and its latest report is published on Estyn's website.

It had 105 pupils in the 2025/26 school census.

36% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (three-year average).

Of its pupils, 13% have additional learning needs (28% in 2020/21); 10% are learning English as an additional language; and 15% are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Year groups range from 5 pupils (Year 1) to 18 (Year 3).

Its delegated budget for 2026-27 works out at £6,074 per pupil, against £4,101 in 2021-22. It ended 2024-25 with a deficit of £111k.

Estyn's report on its March 2023 inspection summarises St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Neath) like this:

"St Joseph’s R.C. Primary School provides a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and secure. Ensuring the well-being of pupils is a high priority for all members of the school community. As a result, pupils feel cared for and valued by staff. The newly appointed acting headteacher has built strong relationships with pupils, parents and staff. She has established a culture of trust and kindness. However, leadership and governance do not show the capacity to identify or address areas in need of improvement."

"Over time, leaders have not identified weaknesses in the quality of teaching and provision for younger pupils or the need to provide greater challenge for more able pupils. The school has a substantial deficit budget and there is no plan in place to address this. Leaders and staff are continuing to develop their school curriculum to align with the Curriculum for Wales. Provision to develop pupils’ Welsh language skills is appropriate and supports most pupils to make suitable progress. A few pupils in Year 3 and Year 4 make good progress in this aspect of their learning. The school has made positive improvements in the provision for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) recently. This has resulted in improved progress for these pupils."

"Overall, the teaching and the learning experiences provided for pupils do not support them to make enough progress across the full breadth of the curriculum during their time at school. Provision for the school’s youngest pupils is particularly weak. Across the school, teachers do not support pupils to use their skills well enough. The range of learning experiences is limited, and pupils have little influence over what or how they learn. A few safeguarding issues were brought to the attention of the school during the inspection."

Estyn made 4 recommendations: (1) Address the safeguarding and health and safety issues identified during the inspection; (2) Improve strategic leadership at all levels and implement effective evaluation and improvement processes that focus on improving outcomes for pupils; (3) Improve teaching and assessment; (4) Improve the curriculum and provision for pupils’ skills including their independent learning skills.

Estyn follow-up status: Special Measures.

In its own words: "St. Joseph’s Primary School provides a small, caring, nurturing Catholic environment where all pupils receive encouragement and guidance to develop their abilities and talents to the full. This reflects our Mission Statement, “One Family, Many Gifts”, whilst living out the Gospel Values. We aim to create an inclusive environment where pupils become literate, numerate and digitally competent."

The school runs a breakfast club from 8:10am.

The nearest other state primary schools to St Joseph's Catholic Primary School (Neath) are Gnoll Primary School (0.3 miles), YGG Castell-nedd (0.5 miles), Alderman Davies CIW Primary School (0.6 miles) and Crynallt Primary School (0.6 miles).

The nearest railway station is Neath Rail Station, about 1030 metres away (roughly a 13-minute walk).

23 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Cook Rees Avenue (in), 110 metres away.