St Nicholas Catholic Primary School
Ringswell Avenue, Exeter, EX1 3EG
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- PLYMOUTH CAST
- Headteacher
- Mr Damian Railston
- Religious ethos
- None
- Diocese
- Diocese of Plymouth
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Plymouth CAST
- Constituency
- Exmouth and Exeter East
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 327
- Pupils on roll
- 269
- URN
- 139394
- Local authority
- Devon
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01392445403
About this school
St Nicholas Catholic Primary School is a Roman Catholic primary academy in Exeter. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 269 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Early years
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 48 | 37 | 47 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 58% | 46% | 32% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 6% | 5% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 67% | 59% | 66% |
| Expected standard in maths | 65% | 59% | 64% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 60% | 65% | 53% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 101.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 100.0 | 101.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -1.90 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How St Nicholas Catholic Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Devon average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 58% | 55% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 46% | 54.9% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 32% | 57.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 313 |
| 2023/24 | 313 |
| 2024/25 | 326 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Nicholas Catholic Primary School compares
St Nicholas Catholic Primary School ranked 250th of 269 primary schools in Devon for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 7% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 32% | 5.2% | 17.4% | 269 | — |
| Whipton Barton Junior School | 73% | 6.1% | 49.3% | 212 | 0.5 miles |
| Whipton Barton Infants and Nursery School | — | 7.2% | 40.9% | 204 | 0.6 miles |
| Woodwater Academy | 65% | 5.7% | 24.3% | 329 | 0.6 miles |
| Clyst Heath Nursery and Community Primary School | 56% | 4.1% | 13.9% | 347 | 0.8 miles |
| Monkerton Community Primary School | — | 3.1% | 11.5% | 488 | 0.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 17.42%
- English as an additional language
- 24.5%
- Overall absence
- 5.17%
- Persistent absence
- 12.31%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Whipton Barton Junior School0.5 miles
Primary · Exeter
-
Whipton Barton Infants and Nursery School0.6 miles
Primary · Exeter
-
Woodwater Academy0.6 miles
Primary · Exeter
-
Clyst Heath Nursery and Community Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Exeter
-
Monkerton Community Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Exeter
Other schools in Exeter
St Nicholas Catholic Primary School ranks 46th of the 48 ranked primary schools in Exeter.
- Alphington Primary School Primary
- Bowhill Primary School Primary
- Brampford Speke Church of England Primary School Primary
- Broadclyst Community Primary School Primary
- Cheriton Bishop Community Primary School Primary
- Christow Primary School Primary
- Clyst Heath Nursery and Community Primary School Primary
- Clyst St Mary Primary School Primary
- Cockwood Primary School Primary
- Countess Wear Primary School Primary
- Doddiscombsleigh Primary School Primary
- Dunsford Community Academy Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Nicholas Catholic Primary School teach?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Exeter.
- Who is the headteacher of St Nicholas Catholic Primary School?
- The headteacher of St Nicholas Catholic Primary School is Mr Damian Railston, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Nicholas Catholic Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Nicholas Catholic Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at St Nicholas Catholic Primary School?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School has 269 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is St Nicholas Catholic Primary School full?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School has capacity for 327 pupils and 269 on roll (82%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St Nicholas Catholic Primary School a faith school?
- Yes. St Nicholas Catholic Primary School is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Plymouth.
- Does St Nicholas Catholic Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records St Nicholas Catholic Primary School as having nursery classes.
- Is St Nicholas Catholic Primary School part of an academy trust?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School is part of PLYMOUTH CAST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have St Nicholas Catholic Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 58% in 2022/23 and 32% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Nicholas Catholic Primary School compare with other schools in Devon?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School ranked 250th of 269 primary schools in Devon for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 7% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Nicholas Catholic Primary School's absence rate?
- St Nicholas Catholic Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.2% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Nicholas Catholic Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Nicholas Catholic Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.