Willow Bank School
Community special school · Mixed · St. Helens
Winwick Road, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 8DE
–
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
—
No council data
Attendance
70.8%
64.4% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
70
Capacity used
Over capacity108%
65 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Details
- Type
- Community special school
- Age range
- 8–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Sixth form
- No
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Nicola Laughton
- Address
- Winwick Road, St Helens, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 8DE
- Phone
- 01744678745
- Local authority
- St. Helens
- Ward / constituency
- Newton-le-Willows East · St Helens North
- Area
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 104843
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 70% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 2% | — | — |
| SEN support | 0% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 5 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
70 pupils · 65 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 26
12 May 2026
S5 Inspection · report card
Inclusion Expected standard Achievement Needs attention Safeguarding standards Met Curriculum and teaching Needs attention Attendance and behaviour Needs attention Leadership and governance Expected standard Early years Not applicable Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard Post-16 provision Not applicable - 22
27 April 2022
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 73 pupils
Attendance
70.8%
Share of sessions attended · England 94.5%
Overall absence
29.2%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 5.5%
Persistent absence
64.4%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 14.6%
Severe absence
23.3%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
24.1%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
Primary results by subject (SATs)
Year 6 pupils meeting each standard, against England
Reading, writing & maths combined
Reading
Writing
Maths
Grammar, punctuation & spelling
Science
England average · Scaled scores run 80–120 (100 = expected standard).
Primary results over time
Expected standard (RWM) by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Expected standard (RWM) | 0% | 61% |
| Higher standard | 0% | 8% |
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 4.8 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 0% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 0% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 0% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 0.32 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 11 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 7 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Art and Design | 6 | 0% | 17% | 33% | |
| Geography | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Combined Science | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Mathematics | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.