St Mary's Catholic High School
Secondary · Voluntary aided school · Mixed · Wigan
Manchester Road, Manchester, M29 7EE
66
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Standards maintained
No graded inspection
Application demand
95%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
91.3%
21.4% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,537
Capacity used
Nearly full98%
1,569 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
95%
1st preference success rate
240 of 252 families who put it first got an offer
258
Places offered
564
Total applications
2.2
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 252 | 240 | ● 95% |
| 2nd preference | 207 | 17 | ● 8% |
| 3rd preference | 104 | 1 | ● 1% |
| Later preferences | 1 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 564 | 258 | 46% |
1st preference success by year
Wigan lets families list 3 preferences. 66 applications came from outside the council area (31 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Voluntary aided school
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Denise Brahms
- Address
- Manchester Road, Astley, Manchester, M29 7EE
- Phone
- 01942884144
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Ward / constituency
- Astley · Worsley and Eccles
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 106538
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 20% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 10% | — | — |
| SEN support | 12% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 3 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
1,537 pupils · 1,569 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
09 October 2024
Ungraded inspection
Standards maintained
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,348 pupils
Attendance
91.3%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
8.7%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
21.4%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.7%
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.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 46.4 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.20 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 46% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 67% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 3.96 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 33.64 | — | — |
Average grade: C+ (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 44.2 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 37.9% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 63.2% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 20.6% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.68 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 253 | — |
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.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 30.11 | 35 |
| Average grade | C | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 20% | 17% |
| A-level students | 89 | — |
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 | 252 | 13% | 44% | 63% | |
| Mathematics | 251 | 16% | 47% | 75% | |
| Religious Studies | 250 | 11% | 35% | 45% | |
| English Literature | 250 | 14% | 45% | 67% | |
| Combined Science | 203 | 6% | 27% | 53% | |
| History | 121 | 18% | 44% | 60% | |
| Spanish | 106 | 7% | 36% | 52% | |
| Business | 72 | 10% | 32% | 44% | |
| Biology | 47 | 26% | 64% | 81% | |
| Physics | 47 | 34% | 64% | 79% | |
| Chemistry | 47 | 30% | 68% | 79% | |
| Physical Education | 46 | 13% | 52% | 65% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 33 | 0% | 6% | 18% | |
| Sociology | 23 | 0% | 0% | 9% | |
| Mathematics | 23 | 9% | 26% | 43% | |
| Biology | 21 | 0% | 10% | 24% | |
| Chemistry | 16 | 6% | 13% | 31% | |
| Physics | 12 | 8% | 25% | 42% | |
| English Language and Literature | 10 | 0% | 0% | 30% | |
| Geography | 9 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| Business Studies | 8 | 0% | 13% | 38% | |
| History | 7 | 14% | 57% | 86% | |
| Physical Education / Sports Studies | 7 | 14% | 14% | 71% | |
| Economics | 6 | 0% | 0% | 33% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 14430: St. Mary's Catholic High School, Manchester
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | ≤5 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 43% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 12% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 45% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Wigan council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
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.