St Nicholas Catholic High School
Secondary · Voluntary aided school · Mixed · Cheshire West and Chester
Greenbank Lane, Northwich, CW8 1JW
71
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Good
Graded 05/03/2024
Application demand
98%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
91.8%
22.5% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,201
Capacity used
Nearly full97%
1,240 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
98%
1st preference success rate
204 of 208 families who put it first got an offer
215
Places offered
464
Total applications
2.2
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 208 | 204 | ● 98% |
| 2nd preference | 161 | 11 | ● 7% |
| 3rd preference | 95 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 464 | 215 | 46% |
1st preference success by year
Cheshire West and Chester lets families list 3 preferences. 45 applications came from outside the council area (25 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
- Craig Burns
- Address
- Greenbank Lane, Hartford, Northwich, CW8 1JW
- Phone
- 01606706000
- Local authority
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Ward / constituency
- Hartford & Greenbank · Mid Cheshire
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 111450
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 14% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 11% | — | — |
| SEN support | 8% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 2 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
1,201 pupils · 1,240 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
05 March 2024
Full graded inspection
Good overall effectivenessSixth form Good Personal development Good Quality of education Good Safeguarding effective Yes Behaviour and attitudes Good Leadership and management Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,090 pupils
Attendance
91.8%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
8.2%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
22.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.9%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.4%
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 | 49.9 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.17 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 52% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 76% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.54 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 29.38 | — | — |
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 | 50.8 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 45.7% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 72.1% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 59.4% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.67 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 197 | — |
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 | 27.03 | 35 |
| Average grade | C- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 5.1% | 17% |
| A-level students | 79 | — |
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+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 197 | 24% | 51% | 77% | |
| English Language | 196 | 27% | 61% | 77% | |
| Religious Studies | 195 | 25% | 57% | 69% | |
| English Literature | 193 | 23% | 61% | 80% | |
| Combined Science | 149 | 5% | 41% | 62% | |
| History | 116 | 28% | 54% | 67% | |
| Geography | 88 | 28% | 58% | 69% | |
| Spanish | 87 | 30% | 59% | 74% | |
| Business | 78 | 9% | 47% | 59% | |
| Biology | 47 | 64% | 100% | 100% | |
| Physics | 47 | 51% | 98% | 100% | |
| Chemistry | 47 | 57% | 100% | 100% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Studies | 27 | 0% | 4% | 15% | |
| Law | 25 | 0% | 4% | 8% | |
| Psychology | 22 | 5% | 9% | 32% | |
| Physical Education / Sports Studies | 19 | 0% | 0% | 5% | |
| Economics | 17 | 0% | 0% | 12% | |
| History | 14 | 0% | 0% | 7% | |
| Mathematics | 14 | 7% | 14% | 43% | |
| Biology | 13 | 0% | 38% | 62% | |
| Geography | 13 | 0% | 15% | 15% | |
| Chemistry | 12 | 0% | 17% | 42% | |
| English Language | 12 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| Religious Studies | 12 | 0% | 0% | 33% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
No Cambridge offers this year
UCAS apply centre 14380: St Nicholas Catholic High School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | 0 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
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) | 56% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 4% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 58% | — | — |
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 Cheshire West and Chester 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.