St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

School overview

St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is a primary school serving Wareham, Dorset, classified by the DfE as a converter academy with a Roman Catholic religious character. It has 116 pupils aged 4 to 11 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School 'Requires improvement'. In the most recent Key Stage 2 SATs, 46% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined — below the national average of 61%. That marks an improvement of 17.0 percentage points in the proportion reaching the expected standard on the previous year, though small year groups can make these figures swing sharply from year to year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of primary schools nationally.

Pupils achieved an average scaled score of 102 in reading and 101 in maths (national averages are about 105 and 104). St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 5 families who put it first were offered a place. Overall pupil absence was 5.5%. There are about 18.1 pupils per teacher. Its intake is relatively advantaged, with around 10% of pupils eligible for free school meals in the last six years versus about 24% nationally. If you are considering St Mary & St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.