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State secondary schools in St. Helens

9 schools · North West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

St. Helens has 9 state secondaries, 4 of them with sixth forms. 93.3% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 24.5% to 56.2% passing English and maths, a spread of 32 points, with a middle school at 32.5%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 3 Good, 1 Requires improvement. 5 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

9 schools in St. Helens. Tap one, or see the full list.
25% 56% passed English & maths

St. Helens against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

36%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

9.5% below England

England 45%

41.8

Attainment 8 average score

4.3 below England

England 46.1

23%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

1.4% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across St. Helens

93.3%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

98.4%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

30%

Appeals upheld17 of 56 heard

These are figures for St. Helens as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across St. Helens's 9 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 25% to 56%. That is a spread of 32 percentage points, narrower than most councils.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

St. Helens schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistoryenglish literatureenglish languagecombined scienceartgeographyspanishreligious studiesphysicschemistrybiologyphysical educationcomputer science
  1. 1 Rainford High School St Helens · 172 entries 64%
  2. 2 The Sutton Academy St Helens · 186 entries 61%
  3. 3 Hope Academy Newton-le-Willows · 228 entries 52%
  4. 4 Outwood Academy Haydock St. Helens · 107 entries 50%
  5. 5 Cowley International College St Helens · 173 entries 47%
  6. 6 Rainhill High School Prescot · 180 entries 46%
  7. 7 St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy St. Helens · 77 entries 45%
  8. 8 De La Salle School St. Helens · 200 entries 44%
  9. 9 St Cuthbert's Catholic High School St Helens · 159 entries 38%
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Every school in St. Helens

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

2 of 9 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

  • Cowley International College St Helens · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    30%
    Attainment 8
    39.3
    Absence
    27%
  • De La Salle School St. Helens · Requires improvement. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    35%
    Attainment 8
    39.4
    Absence
    30%
  • Hope Academy Newton-le-Willows · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    33%
    Attainment 8
    43.8
    Absence
    22%
  • Outwood Academy Haydock St. Helens · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    30%
    Attainment 8
    41.2
    Absence
    23%
  • Rainford High School St Helens · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    56%
    Attainment 8
    50.6
    Absence
    16%
  • Rainhill High School Prescot · Good. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    41%
    Attainment 8
    45.9
    Absence
    14%
  • St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy St. Helens · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    28%
    Attainment 8
    42.6
    Absence
    23%
  • St Cuthbert's Catholic High School St Helens · Good.
    Eng & maths
    25%
    Attainment 8
    34.5
    Absence
    34%
  • The Sutton Academy St Helens · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    39%
    Attainment 8
    43.1
    Absence
    26%

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in St. Helens

4 of St. Helens's 4 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering St. Helens

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Halton 8 schools · 39% passed English & mathsKnowsley 6 schools · 25% passed English & mathsLancashire 81 schools · 44% passed English & mathsWarrington 13 schools · 48% passed English & mathsWigan 19 schools · 39% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.