Voluntary aided school

St Ambrose Barlow Roman Catholic High School

Mixed · ages 11–16 · no sixth form · Roman CatholicSalford, North West · Manchester M27 9QPSchool website
Pupils on roll
1,078of 1,050 places
Free school meals
30.0%
Year 11 cohort 2025
205
Ofsted
Good, 28 February 2024Read the Ofsted report
What the data says

St Ambrose Barlow Roman Catholic High School has no sixth form. Of the 210 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 25% moved to a sixth form college, 57% to a further education college and 4% started an apprenticeship.

Religious Studies is unusually popular at GCSE: 93% of the year group took it, against 31% of pupils across England.

GCSE results in 2025 were in line with the national picture: Attainment 8 of 44.2 against 46.1 across England and 42.9 in Salford, with 38% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).

As an 11–16 school, St Ambrose Barlow Roman Catholic High School is judged on where pupils go at 16 rather than on A level results.

Where pupils went after Year 11

Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Salford and England.

This school
Salford
England
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
MeasureThis schoolSalfordEngland
Pupils in the cohort2102,558607,348
Any sustained destination90%85%92%
Stayed in education83%78%86%
— school sixth form2%34%
— sixth form college25%16%13%
— further education college57%57%37%
— other education2%2%
Apprenticeship4%3%3%
Employment3%4%3%
No sustained destination6%10%6%
Destination unknown4%5%3%

GCSE results 2025

MeasureThis schoolSalfordEngland
Attainment 8 (average points per pupil)44.242.946.1
Grade 5 or above in English and maths38%40%45%
Grade 4 or above in English and maths67%61%65%
Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects32%34%41%
EBacc average point score3.853.774.09
Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort25%40%28%
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils38.235.334.9
Attainment 8 — other pupils46.348.050.4
Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2)
English as an additional language15%19%19%

Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.

Subjects taken at GCSE

Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.

SubjectEntriesShare of cohortEnglandGrades 7–9EnglandGrades 4–9
English Language205100%89%13%20%69%
Mathematics204100%88%11%22%74%
English Literature19294%86%7%21%76%
Religious Studies19093%31%16%32%59%
Combined Science16480%65%7%9%55%
History11556%41%10%26%60%
Geography7336%41%12%25%64%
Spanish6029%19%47%27%92%
Business Studies3919%18%8%20%77%
Physical Education3517%11%3%24%69%
Biology3417%23%15%45%88%
Chemistry3316%23%21%47%94%
Physics3316%23%21%46%88%
Computer Science2814%13%25%30%71%
Fine Art2412%9%25%28%100%
Food Preparation and Nutrition178%8%29%21%82%
Drama168%7%6%27%69%
Music168%5%0%33%25%
Design and Technology157%11%7%23%100%
Photography147%6%0%19%100%
Polish63%1%100%84%100%
Portuguese42%0%50%
Chinese10%1%75%
Italian10%0%53%
French10%18%29%
Arabic10%1%47%

Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications

SubjectEntriesShare of cohortEngland
Multimedia43
Health Studies26
Sports Studies9

Other secondary schools in Salford

AldridgeUTC@MediaCityUK

University technical college · sixth form · 464 pupils

78% stayed in education · Attainment 8 35.6

Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.