School Street, Birtley, Chester le Street, County Durham DH3 2PN
10 reasons to choose St Joseph's Catholic Junior School, Birtley
Top line
St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, Birtley has a Schoolsmith Score® of 68. It is one of the best state primary schools in Chester le Street and one of the 3 best independent or state primaries within 3 miles.
School fundamentals
St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, Birtley is a state junior school for boys and girls (50%/50%) between the ages of 7 and 11 years. It is a Roman Catholic academy converter faith school. The school is one of the 47 members of Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust. Though Ofsted no longer makes an an overall effectiveness judgement, its graded judgements imply an Outstanding rating for the school in its last (2025) inspection.
Average class size
St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, Birtley has one class per year, and an average class size of 23 pupils.
Exam results
Average Year 6 SATS results from 2016-19 and 2022 show that St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, Birtley achieves above average attainment results. By the same measure, progress score rank the school in the top 35% of schools.
The St Joseph's Catholic Junior School, Birtley curriculum
School curriculum emphasises Catholic social morality and also includes PSHE, French. There may be an occasional extra-curricular academic or hobby club.
More on the curriculum
There are regular educational trips for all year groups, visiting speakers and a residential trip in Year 6.
Specialist teaching
Most lessons are taught by the class teacher with specialist teaching for music and sport.
Sport at St Joseph's Catholic Junior School, Birtley
School offers between 10 and 15 different sports over the course of the year. Representative teams in major sports from Year 3.
The Arts at St Joseph's Catholic Junior School, Birtley
Art and music are taught as discrete subjects to all pupils. DT, drama, dance integrated into other subjects. Choir. There are some extra-curricular creative and performing arts clubs.
Wraparound care
School hours are staggered by age group from 8.45/8.55am to 3.15/3.30pm. Breakfast club from 7.45am and after school clubs can extend the day to 4.30pm.
Find another school near St Joseph's Catholic Junior School, Birtley
Newcastle Preparatory School (7.1 miles); Dame Allan’s Junior School (7.2 miles); RGS Junior School (7.2 miles).
St Benet’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Ouston (1.9 miles); Cestria Primary School (2.9 miles); St Cuthbert’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Chester-le-Street (3.3 miles).
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle (7.2 miles); Dame Allan’s Senior School (7.9 miles); Newcastle High School (8.1 miles).
Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy (0 miles); Grace College (2.9 miles); Cardinal Hume Catholic School (3.6 miles).