St Benedict's Catholic School is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England.^[1] Opened in 1967, the school has around 900 students.^[2]

St Benedict's was a Mathematics and Computing Specialist School.^[3] Whilst the school is based in Bury St. Edmunds, many of its students travel from a wide area, including Haverhill, Thetford, Sudbury, Stowmarket, Newmarket and other surrounding villages and towns, because it is the only Catholic secondary school in the vicinity.

Previously a voluntary aided school administered by Suffolk County Council,^[4] in September 2022 St Benedict's Catholic School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Trust,^[5] and continues to be under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia.

In September 2014, a snap Ofsted inspection (which were introduced after Operation Trojan Horse), was held at the school.^[6] Following the inspection, the school's previous rating of good was downgraded to "needs improvement".^[7] Inspectors found St Benedict's to be in breach of rules surrounding guarding against extremism and radicalisation, and were failing to prepare students "for life and work in modern Britain".^[8] The report was withdrawn within hours,^[8] with Ofsted stating that "quality assurance checks" were required.^[7][8] In November 2014, the school was one of 11 highlighted by Ofsted as failing to promote British values.^[9]

The wording of the report was later revised, with references to extremism and radicalisation removed, but the needs improvement rating was maintained.^[10][11] The decision to downgrade the school was criticised both by the Head teacher of the school and the Catholic Education Service.^[9] An interim inspection then took place in January 2015, and Ofsted wrote to the school to confirm "the school has made progress in key areas since the inspection."^[10] Later that month the school was ranked second in the West Suffolk league table, with Head Teacher Hugh O'Neill stating, "The results vindicate the work we do here. I think you will find that there is a disparity between schools' Ofsted ratings and their position in the league table across the county."^[12]

The school was graded as Outstanding or Good in all areas in its most recent Ofsted inspection carried out in September 2016.^[13]

The school follows the National Curriculum and offers a range of subjects at GCSE and A-Level. As a Catholic school, Religious Education is taught from that standpoint and is compulsory at GCSE. Sixth form students who study 3 A Levels are obliged to take a course known as "General Religious Education", which involves no examinations or certificates yet is mandatory.

The school offers a sixth form for students over the age of 16, covering Year 12s and Year 13s. The Sixth Form is highly successful and has a strong track record offering a range of 'facilitating' and 'keystone' subjects at A level. The school has enjoyed long-standing success in supporting students with securing places at Oxford and Cambridge universities as well as medicine and dentistry. Around 150 students study in the Sixth Form.^[14]