St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy

Wirral · CH45 3LN

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 1073 pupils, 47.3% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN Resourced provision · 20.3% on SEN support Behaviour 12.9% absence rate Staff 17.4% turnover Financials £9,342 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy

General Information

Address: Wallasey Village, Wallasey, CH45 3LN – View on map
Phone: 01516397531
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Kevin Maddocks
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 160 families put it first for 168 places – 10 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 9 · 2024 9 · 2025 10 · 2026 10
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1073 pupils out of 1300 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 464
% eligible for free school meals: 47.3%
Pupil mix: 2 in 10 (less mixed than the Wirral average)
English as an additional language: 4% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 17.4% a year (Wirral 13.4%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 46% moved to another school, 54% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Wirral: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 35 (1.6 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 22 (1.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 10 (0.5 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Wirral, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 12.9%
Persistently absent pupils: 37.6%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

Resourced provision for Autism 26 places · 26 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 20.3%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 7.0%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 88 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 68 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 24 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 19 pupils
Hearing impairment: 6 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 29 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 20 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 11 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 8 pupils
Physical disability: 3 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card January 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Achievement Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
Sixth form (post-16) Expected standard
Leadership and governance Expected standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Requires improvement (2023). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 33.2
Compared with the area: 13.6 points below the Wirral average (46.8)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Below (−4.1 points against an expected 37.3)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 35% (Wirral 64%, England 65%) Broadly steady
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolWirral averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 13.6 points below the Wirral average (46.8).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

18th of 19 secondary schools in Wirral for Attainment 8

#16St John Plessington Catholic College37.2
#17The Mosslands School35.2
#18St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy33.2
#19The Oldershaw School28.0

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1West Kirby Grammar School71.3
#2Wirral Grammar School for Girls69.3
#3Calday Grange Grammar School68.1
#4Upton Hall School FCJ65.6
#5Wirral Grammar School for Boys65.4
#6St Anselm's College57.2
#7Birkenhead High School Academy50.5
#8Pensby High School44.8
#9Weatherhead High School41.9
#10Birkenhead Park School39.9
#11Ridgeway High School39.2
#12Hilbre High School39.0
#13Prenton High School for Girls38.9
#14Woodchurch High School37.9
#15Co-op Academy Bebington37.3
#16St John Plessington Catholic College37.2
#17The Mosslands School35.2
#18St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy33.2
#19The Oldershaw School28.0

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 86.0%
Went into further education: 77.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
Religious Studies
Science Double Award
History
Geography
Art & Design
Physics (General)
Chemistry (General)
Biology
French Language
D & T
Psychology (General)
Computer Science
Photography
Polish
Turkish
Food Technology
Music Studies (General)

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £9,342 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

5th of 20 secondary schools in Wirral for spending per pupil

#3Woodchurch High School£9,739
#4The Mosslands School£9,642
#5St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy£9,342
#6Birkenhead Park School£9,129
#7Weatherhead High School£8,414

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Ridgeway High School£10,050
#2The Oldershaw School£9,742
#3Woodchurch High School£9,739
#4The Mosslands School£9,642
#5St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy£9,342
#6Birkenhead Park School£9,129
#7Weatherhead High School£8,414
#8St John Plessington Catholic College£8,353
#9Hilbre High School£8,239
#10Co-op Academy Bebington£8,148
#11Prenton High School for Girls£8,140
#12Calday Grange Grammar School£7,663
#13Pensby High School£7,277
#14Upton Hall School FCJ£7,200
#15Wirral Grammar School for Girls£7,088
#16Wirral Grammar School for Boys£6,834
#17West Kirby Grammar School£6,668
#18Birkenhead High School Academy£6,653
#19South Wirral High School£3,482
#20St Anselm's College£1,492

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Wirral: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered