St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy

St. Helens · WA12 9QQ

General information Junior School · 7-11 years Who goes here 219 pupils, 21% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted: Requires improvement

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 20.1% on SEN support Behaviour 5.3% absence rate Staff 25.5% turnover Financials £5,812 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy

General Information

Address: Barn Way, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 9QQ – View on map
Phone: 01744678603
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Samantha Birchall
Age range: 7-11 years
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

219 pupils out of 240 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 46
% eligible for free school meals: 21.0%
Pupil mix: 2 in 10 (similar to the St. Helens average)
English as an additional language: 3% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 25.5% a year (St. Helens 11.6%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 33% moved to another school, 67% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (one year, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across St. Helens: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 1 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 1 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state primary schools in St. Helens, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 5.3%
Persistently absent pupils: 10.8%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 20.1%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.7%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Specific learning difficulty: 19 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 13 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 9 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 2 pupils
Physical disability: 1 pupil

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 3 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 2 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 2 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Requires improvement 2022 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 72% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 14% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 10 percentage points above the St. Helens average (62%)
Expected standard by subject: Reading 81% · Writing 82% · Maths 81% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 72%
Average test scores: reading 106, maths 105
Based on: 57 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

Year 6 SATs: joint 14th of 52 junior and primary schools in the area

#13Willow Tree Primary School73%
=14Queen's Park CofE/Urc Primary School72%
=14St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy72%
#16Grange Valley Primary School71%
=17Garswood Primary and Nursery School70%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

#1St Mary's Catholic Primary School88%
#2St Peter's CofE Primary School83%
#3St Aidan's CofE Primary School Billinge82%
#4St John Vianney Catholic Primary School80%
#5Eaves Primary School79%
#6St Bartholomew's Catholic Primary School78%
=7Eccleston Lane Ends Primary School77%
=7St Julie's Catholic Primary School77%
=7St Mary & St Thomas CofE Primary School77%
=7St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School77%
#11St Ann's Church of England Primary School75%
#12Rainford Brook Lodge Community Primary School74%
#13Willow Tree Primary School73%
=14Queen's Park CofE/Urc Primary School72%
=14St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy72%
#16Grange Valley Primary School71%
=17Garswood Primary and Nursery School70%
=17Rainford CofE Primary School70%
#19St Theresa's Catholic Primary School69%
#20Thatto Heath Community Primary School68%
#21Billinge Chapel End Primary School67%
#22Eccleston Mere Primary School66%
=23Bleak Hill Primary School65%
=23St James' Church of England Primary School65%
#25Nutgrove Methodist Primary School64%
#26Parish Church of England Primary School, St Helens63%
=27Allanson Street Primary School62%
=27Holy Spirit Catholic Primary School62%
=27Lyme Community Primary School62%
=30Longton Lane Community Primary School61%
=30St Peter and St Paul Catholic Primary School61%
=32St Teresa's Catholic Primary School, Devon Street60%
=32The District CofE Primary School60%
=34Haydock English Martyrs' Primary School59%
=34Rivington Primary School59%
#36Newton-le-Willows Primary School58%
=37Ashurst Primary School57%
=37Broad Oak Community Primary School57%
=37Sutton Oak CofE Primary School57%
=37Wargrave CofE Primary School57%
=41Robins Lane Community Primary School54%
=41Sherdley Primary School54%
#43St. Mary's Blackbrook Catholic Primary School53%
#44Carr Mill Primary School52%
=45Legh Vale Primary School47%
=45Sutton Manor Community Primary School47%
#47St Austin's Catholic Primary School46%
#48Holy Cross Catholic Primary School44%
#49Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School37%
#50St Anne's Catholic Primary School35%
#51Merton Bank Primary School28%
#52Rectory CofE Primary School27%

View full Ofsted inspection report

1st of 1 junior schools in St. Helens for Ofsted rating

#1St Mary's Catholic Junior AcademyRequires improvement

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1St Mary's Catholic Junior AcademyRequires improvement

Financials

Spending per pupil: £5,812 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

1st of 1 junior schools in St. Helens for spending per pupil

#1St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy£5,812

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1St Mary's Catholic Junior Academy£5,812

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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