St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy

Academy sponsor led·Infant school St Helens, St. Helens·WA12 9RX

School type

Infant school

Ages 3–7

Key Stage 2 performance

St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy is an infant school for pupils aged 3–7. Pupils move on to a separate junior or middle school before Year 6, so the school does not enter pupils for the Key Stage 2 SATs and has no KS2 results to publish.

This applies to every infant school in England — it does not mean data is missing. Ofsted judgements and school information are shown below.

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first

100%

44 first choices, 46 places

First choices per place

0.96

fewer first choices than places

Applications naming the school

any preference, for 46 places

First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.07

00.511.5

1 per place

n/a2022n/a20231.0020240.8920250.962026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness

Requires improvement

Quality of education

Requires improvement

Behaviour and attitudes

Good

Personal development

Good

Leadership and management

Requires improvement

Safeguarding effective?

Yes

Early years provision

Requires improvement

School profile

Age range: 3–7
Pupils on roll: 177
Gender: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6

11.9%

Typical primary: 21.5%

% EAL

5.1%

Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support

7.9%

Typical primary: 14.3%

% with an EHC plan

2.8%

Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence

4.7%

Typical primary: 5.3%

Persistently absent

14.4%

Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher

19.8

Typical primary: 20.7

Spend per pupil

£6,852

Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy Newton-le-Willows · 0.2 mi 63.1 Newton-le-Willows Primary School Newton-le-Willows · 0.2 mi 47.0 The District CofE Primary School Newton-le-Willows · 0.3 mi 41.3 Wargrave CofE Primary School Newton-le-Willows · 0.6 mi 39.4 St Peter's CofE Primary School Newton-le-Willows · 0.7 mi 73.8 Lyme Community Primary School Newton-le-Willows · 0.9 mi 52.0 St James' Church of England Primary School St Helens · 1.4 mi 48.1 Grange Valley Primary School St Helens · 1.6 mi 67.2

Location

Official sources

Latest Ofsted report reports.ofsted.gov.uk DfE Compare School Performance compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk GIAS school details get-information-schools.service.gov.uk

School overview

St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy is a primary school serving St Helens, St. Helens, classified by the DfE as a sponsor-led academy with a Roman Catholic religious character. It has 177 pupils aged 3 to 7 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy 'Requires improvement'.

Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy their first choice was offered one of its 46 Reception places. Overall pupil absence was 4.7%. There are about 19.8 pupils per teacher. Its intake is relatively advantaged, with around 12% of pupils eligible for free school meals in the last six years versus about 24% nationally. If you are considering St Mary's Catholic Infant Academy, 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.