St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Swindon
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is a primary school for pupils aged 2 to 11 in Swindon, part of St Mary's Catholic Primary School (academy Trust), Swindon. It has a Roman Catholic religious character. It was rated Good at its last graded Ofsted inspection, in January 2019. Ofsted's ungraded inspection in November 2024 did not change this grade. Its 2025 Key Stage 2 results were the 11th-highest of the 65 schools in Swindon with published results, and 3,408th of 14,452 across England. It was full in 2025, at 105% of capacity.
- SATs results
- Above England average
- Ofsted
- Good (2019)
- Demand
- Every first choice offered
- Attendance
- In line with England
Reception applications for September 2027 close in 81 days
Deadline Friday 15 January 2027. Apply to Swindon (the council where you live). Offers on 16 April.
Data last updated 26 Oct 2026
St Mary's Catholic Primary School in detail
Results
In 2025, 85% of Year 6 pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School reached the expected standard in reading and 85% in maths. At the average state primary the figures were 74% and 73% in Swindon and 77% and 75% across England.
Results fell from 85% in reading and 91% in maths in 2024.
Getting a place at St Mary's Catholic Primary School
For September 2026 entry, 31 families put St Mary's Catholic Primary School as their first choice and 69 named it as one of their preferences, for 32 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.
Admissions history and your chances at St Mary's Catholic Primary School
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state primary schools to St Mary's Catholic Primary School are Ferndale Primary School & Nursery (0.2 miles, Good, 75% reading, 81% maths); Even Swindon Primary School (0.7 miles); Rodbourne Cheney Primary School (0.7 miles, Outstanding, 90% reading, 90% maths); and Moredon Primary School (0.8 miles, Good, 83% reading, 83% maths).
St Mary's Catholic Primary School's 2025 results were higher than 2 of these 3 schools.
Ferndale Primary School & NurseryEven Swindon Primary SchoolRodbourne Cheney Primary SchoolMoredon Primary School
The trust
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is run by its own single-school academy trust.
What parents say
57 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about St Mary's Catholic Primary School (as of September 2025): 93% would recommend the school, 95% say their child is happy there and 91% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.
The strongest agreement was that pupils behave well (98%); the weakest, that the school supports their child's wider development (88%).
Who goes there
6% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 25.6% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.
The largest ethnic groups are Asian (41%), White British (26%) and Black (14%).
In 2026, 36 pupils (9%) received SEN support and 13 (3.3%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is speech, language and communication needs.
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Swindon Rail Station, about 1100 metres away (roughly a 14-minute walk).
8 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Bessemer Road East (n-bound), 90 metres away.
The area around the school
In August 2026, police recorded 402 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Swindon (132), as is usual near a town centre.
Suspensions and exclusions
In 2024/25, St Mary's Catholic Primary School issued 9 suspensions, 2.2 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.
Secondary schools nearby
The secondary schools closest to St Mary's Catholic Primary School are Swindon Academy (0.6 miles), Nova Hreod Academy (0.7 miles) and UTC Swindon (0.9 miles).
Sources: DfE school performance data (averages: state mainstream schools); DfE school-level applications and offers; council admissions booklets; DfE appeals statistics; Ofsted Parent View; DfE school census and special educational needs statistics; NaPTAN (Department for Transport); English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); data.police.uk street-level crime; DfE exclusions statistics
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Ofsted · 2 years agoThis judgement is from January 2019, 7 years ago, longer than Ofsted's usual 4-year cycle: the school may have changed since.
Overall
Latest (ungraded) inspection: Standards have been maintained.
Ofsted Insights
From Ofsted's November 2024 inspection report.
What This School Does Well
St Mary's is a genuinely inclusive school where children feel trusted and cared for by adults. Pupils achieve highly across subjects, particularly in reading and mathematics, with excellent support for those who need extra help. The school goes beyond academics by developing character through community projects like cooking for homeless shelters and sustainability initiatives.
Key Strengths
- Exceptional pupil behaviour and exemplary manners throughout the school
- Strong focus on reading with pupils reading with increasing fluency and expression
- Ambitious curriculum that clearly sets out knowledge and skills pupils need to learn
- Excellent support for pupils with special educational needs who benefit from tailored adaptations
- Wide range of clubs and leadership opportunities available to pupils (art, sewing, football, house captains)
Areas for Improvement
- In some wider curriculum subjects, teachers do not check pupils' prior learning well enough before teaching new content
- This prevents some pupils from deepening their understanding and building secure knowledge over time
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
Extracurricular Activities
Art, sewing, football, house captains, e-safety champions, buddy roles, agility trail, agility trail, visit to Houses of Parliament, school elections
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is a warm, welcoming and inclusive school where pupils work hard and achieve highly. The school has maintained the good standards identified at its previous inspection.
At a Glance
6.0%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
Yes
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
What Parents Think
57 responsesSource: Ofsted Parent View, responses as at September 2025 - % who strongly agree or agree
Primary Performance (KS2)
Academic year 2024/25KS2 Results (% meeting expected standard)
Reading has remained stable at around 85% (2024 to 2025). Maths has declined from 91% to 85% (2024 to 2025). Writing has declined from 85% to 77% (2024 to 2025).
Class Sizes
27.9
Avg class size
25.4
Infant (KS1)
29.6
KS2
13
Total classes
3 classes with more than 30 pupils
2025/26 academic year
How Does This School Compare?
Ranked against 5 nearby primary schools
Keep up with St Mary's Catholic Primary School
Before and after school care
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is on the Department for Education's free breakfast clubs programme (list updated July 2026), which pays for a free breakfast club for pupils before school. Source: Free breakfast clubs: schools on the programme, Department for Education Free breakfast clubs in Swindon
Term dates
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is an academy, so it sets its own term dates: check the school's website. As a guide, see Swindon's term dates for its community schools.
Getting There
Bus Stops
Free school transport
Check free transport to St Mary's Catholic Primary School from your postcode →
You apply to the council where you live. St Mary's Catholic Primary School is in Swindon; for families living there:
- Swindon's school travel policy: School travel support
- How to apply: Apply for school travel support
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 15
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 4
- Children hurt
- 1
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 15 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 4 serious and 11 slight.
1 child aged 0 to 15 was hurt: 1 on foot.
2 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Swindon is 15.5 (the median across 92 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Your chances of a place at St Mary's Catholic Primary School
Will you get a place at St Mary's Catholic Primary School? Get the admissions report
Your home postcode, set against St Mary's Catholic Primary School's admissions figures, in one report saved to your account.
What the report includes for St Mary's Catholic Primary School:
- The straight-line distance from your home to St Mary's Catholic Primary School.
- We hold no last distance offered figures from Swindon, so the report covers demand, alternatives and dates.
- Applications, first choices and offers at St Mary's Catholic Primary School for 2014 to 2026 entry.
- How many families in Swindon got their first choice, and how often appeals there succeed.
- The nearest state schools to your home, with Ofsted rating, demand and last distance offered where published.
- Key dates for September 2027 entry and how to apply.
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Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
105%
Over capacity
369 pupils
350 places
19 pupils over capacity in 2025
2025, DfE school capacity data
Area Demand Pressure - Swindon
Based on MHCLG Live Table 122 (2024-25, last 5 years) for Swindon
Across Swindon council
Places available
3,059
Applications
2,416
Got 1st preference
95.6%
Got preferred school
99.4%
All primary applications across Swindon council (2026/27), not just this school.
This school: Every first choice offered
Inspection History(4)
SEND & SEN Provision
SEN Overview
36
SEN Support
13
EHC Plans
12.3%
of Total Pupils
2026 academic year
Provision & Specialist Facilities
Pupils by Need Type
Pupil Demographics
Ethnicity
2026 academic year
Key Indicators
398
Total Pupils
198
Boys
200
Girls
2026 academic year
Workforce
19
Teachers
20.9:1
Pupil-teacher ratio
£49,452
Mean salary
2026 data
School Funding
£4,955
Per pupil
£1989k
Total funding
£48k
Pupil premium
2025-26 financial year allocations
Pupil Absence2024/25
5.7%
Overall absence
10.9%
Persistent absence
330
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
Secondary Schools Nearby
Secondary schools pupils are likely to move to
St Mary's Catholic Primary School
Questions parents ask about St Mary's Catholic Primary School
What are SATs results like at St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
Of the pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School who took the 2025 Key Stage 2 assessments, 85% reached the expected standard in reading and 85% did so in maths.
What is St Mary's Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?
St Mary's Catholic Primary School's most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2024, was ungraded, so it gave no overall grade. At its last graded inspection, in January 2019, it was rated Good.
What is the catchment area for St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
No fixed boundary. When St Mary's Catholic Primary School is oversubscribed, Swindon allocates places by its published criteria, usually ending with home-to-school distance.
Is it hard to get a place at St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
St Mary's Catholic Primary School was full in 2025, at 105% of its capacity, so places are allocated on the oversubscription criteria.
How big are the classes at St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
Classes at St Mary's Catholic Primary School average 27.9 pupils (2025/26). 3 classes have more than 30 pupils - infant classes are capped at 30 by law, with limited exceptions.
How many pupils go to St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
St Mary's Catholic Primary School has around 398 pupils on roll. 6% are eligible for free school meals.
What is attendance like at St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
5.7% of sessions were missed at St Mary's Catholic Primary School in 2024/25. 10.9% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
How do I apply to St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
Apply through Swindon's coordinated admissions process, naming St Mary's Catholic Primary School on your application. Applications for Reception places starting in September 2027 close on Friday 15 January 2027, and offers are made on Friday 16 April 2027.
Does St Mary's Catholic Primary School have a breakfast club or after-school club?
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is on the Department for Education's free breakfast clubs programme (list updated July 2026), which pays for a free breakfast club for pupils before school.
How many road collisions happen near St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 15 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 4 serious and 11 slight. 1 child aged 0 to 15 was hurt: 1 on foot. 2 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Swindon is 15.5 (the median across 92 schools, same distance and years).
Where is St Mary's Catholic Primary School?
St Mary's Catholic Primary School is at Bessemer Road East, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN2 1PE.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)