Voluntary aided school

St Mary's Catholic High School

Mixed · ages 11–16 · no sixth form · Roman CatholicLancashire, North West · Leyland PR25 1BSSchool website
Pupils on roll
813of 830 places
Free school meals
21.2%
Year 11 cohort 2025
160
Ofsted
Standards maintained, 11 June 2025Read the Ofsted report
What the data says

St Mary's Catholic High School has no sixth form. Of the 152 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 7% moved to a sixth form college, 66% to a further education college and 8% started an apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships are a real route from here: 8% of leavers started one, roughly twice the England figure of 3%.

Religious Studies is unusually popular at GCSE: 94% 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 45.0 against 46.1 across England and 45.1 in Lancashire, with 44% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).

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 Lancashire and England.

This school
Lancashire
England
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
MeasureThis schoolLancashireEngland
Pupils in the cohort15213,296607,348
Any sustained destination89%90%92%
Stayed in education73%81%86%
— school sixth form0%12%34%
— sixth form college7%20%13%
— further education college66%48%37%
— other education0%2%2%
Apprenticeship8%5%3%
Employment8%4%3%
No sustained destination8%7%6%
Destination unknown3%2%3%

GCSE results 2025

MeasureThis schoolLancashireEngland
Attainment 8 (average points per pupil)45.045.146.1
Grade 5 or above in English and maths44%44%45%
Grade 4 or above in English and maths66%64%65%
Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects13%34%41%
EBacc average point score3.583.954.09
Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort21%26%28%
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils32.032.734.9
Attainment 8 — other pupils48.549.350.4
Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2)
English as an additional language3%12%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 Language15798%89%15%20%73%
Mathematics15698%88%15%22%74%
English Literature15194%86%19%21%75%
Religious Studies15094%31%15%32%56%
Combined Science12880%65%13%9%59%
History7044%41%13%26%71%
Fine Art4226%9%12%28%76%
Spanish3723%19%5%27%59%
Design and Technology3522%11%6%23%54%
Geography2717%41%19%25%78%
Food Preparation and Nutrition2415%8%38%21%96%
Biology2415%23%8%45%79%
Photography2415%6%46%19%88%
Chemistry2314%23%9%47%83%
Physics2314%23%17%46%74%
Computer Science2013%13%20%30%70%
Music1610%5%19%33%100%
Physical Education106%11%50%24%90%
Drama74%7%0%27%43%
French64%18%0%29%33%
Polish11%1%84%

Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications

SubjectEntriesShare of cohortEngland
Tourism45
Sports Studies38
Computer Appreciation / Introduction16
Small Business Management8

Other secondary schools in Lancashire

Academy@Worden

Academy converter · 660 pupils

74% stayed in education · Attainment 8 43.2

Accrington Academy

Academy sponsor led · 953 pupils

79% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.4

Albany Academy

Academy converter · 725 pupils

76% stayed in education · Attainment 8 43.7

Alder Grange School

Community school · sixth form · 899 pupils

82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 37.0

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.