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St Malachy's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

Halifax, HX2 8JY · Calderdale · primary school

Ofsted: Requires improvement · 2023 Mixed Primary Roman Catholic
OfstedRequires improvement
Pupils162
FSM59.9%
KS2 expected58%
AI summary of the Ofsted report Inspected 2025-09-08 · Tap to collapse

Generated by AI from the official inspection report — not written by Ofsted or SchoolsGPT staff. Always read the full Ofsted PDF before relying on this summary.

Overview: St Malachy's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy, requires improvement in the quality of education, but excels in behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision.

Strengths:

  • Positive relationships between staff and pupils ensure calm and productive classrooms.
  • Staff take time to talk with children about their worries, and bullying is rare.
  • The school provides a safe haven where pupils are happy and grow in confidence.
  • Staff are supportive of improvements and leaders provide training and advice to teach the curriculum well.

Areas to improve:

  • At times, teaching adaptations to the curriculum affect the order in which pupils learn subject content, and pupils may complete tasks they can already do.
  • In some subjects, the checks on pupils' learning are not used to plan what pupils will learn next, resulting in ongoing misconceptions and gaps in understanding.
  • The school's strategies to improve attendance for disadvantaged pupils are not yet having the impact that leaders want, resulting in persistent absence.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Catchment / designated area

Calderdale's own 'catchment area' is explicitly DEFINED as 'any address closer to this school than any other primary school' — i.e. it's a distance derivation, not a fixed mapped boundary.

Source: Calderdale admissions policy

Ofsted judgement breakdown (2023-03-21)

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Requires improvement
Effectiveness of leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding is effective?
Yes
Early years provision (where applicable)
Requires improvement

What the entrance test covers

One joint FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) test for both Calderdale grammar schools (The Crossley Heath School and The North Halifax Grammar School): - English and mathematics papers, age-standardised. - A creative-writing element, assessed for candidates who meet the required standard in English and maths — candidates must meet the qualifying standard in English, maths AND creative writing to be considered. Register once (historically late March to late June of Year 5); the test is sat in mid-September of Year 6 with results by mid-October, before the 31 October application deadline. One sitting serves both schools.

Similar schools nearby

Same area, prioritising the same phase — useful for shortlisting alternatives.

Dean Field Community Primary School 0.0 mi · Primary · Good Halifax, HX2 8DQ Moorside Community Primary School 0.4 mi · Primary · Good Halifax, HX2 8AP Ash Green Community Primary School 0.7 mi · Primary · Good Halifax, HX2 8QD Abbey Park Academy 0.9 mi · Primary · Good Halifax, HX2 9DG Christ Church Pellon CofE VC Primary School 0.9 mi · Primary · Good Halifax, HX2 0QQ Lee Mount Academy 1.0 mi · Primary · Requires improvement Halifax, HX3 5EB

Data sourced from GIAS, Ofsted and official Calderdale admissions publications. Figures can change year to year — always confirm with the school before applying.

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