St Alban's Catholic High School
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · Suffolk
Digby Road, Ipswich, IP4 3NJ
70
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Good
Graded 21/01/2020
Application demand
84%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
91.9%
22.6% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
967
Capacity used
Nearly full95%
1,020 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
84%
1st preference success rate
140 of 167 families who put it first got an offer
172
Places offered
431
Total applications
2.5
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 167 | 140 | ● 84% |
| 2nd preference | 166 | 25 | ● 15% |
| 3rd preference | 98 | 7 | ● 7% |
| Total | 431 | 172 | 40% |
1st preference success by year
Suffolk lets families list 3 preferences. 1 applications came from outside the council area (0 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
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Simon Corless
- Address
- Digby Road, Ipswich, IP4 3NJ
- Phone
- 01473726178
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Ward / constituency
- Bixley · Ipswich
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 137849
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 21% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 36% | — | — |
| SEN support | 9% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 3 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
967 pupils · 1,020 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 25
24 April 2025
Ungraded inspection
Standards maintained - 20
21 January 2020
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 · 893 pupils
Attendance
91.9%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
8.1%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
22.6%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
2.9%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
1.9%
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 | 48.9 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.13 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 51% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 66% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.30 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 26.52 | — | — |
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 | 46.9 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 41.6% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 65.3% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 22.5% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.99 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 173 | — |
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 | 31.65 | 35 |
| Average grade | C | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 9.8% | 17% |
| A-level students | 51 | — |
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 | 173 | 18% | 48% | 71% | |
| English Language | 173 | 17% | 53% | 74% | |
| English Literature | 172 | 17% | 62% | 77% | |
| Religious Studies | 168 | 11% | 37% | 55% | |
| Combined Science | 139 | 4% | 35% | 63% | |
| Business | 77 | 6% | 43% | 56% | |
| History | 75 | 20% | 65% | 72% | |
| Art and Design | 67 | 37% | 70% | 79% | |
| Geography | 54 | 7% | 41% | 56% | |
| Design & Technology | 41 | 17% | 41% | 51% | |
| Biology | 32 | 31% | 94% | 97% | |
| Physics | 32 | 41% | 91% | 97% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 28 | 14% | 36% | 50% | |
| Economics | 24 | 4% | 13% | 38% | |
| Psychology | 16 | 6% | 6% | 31% | |
| Physics | 11 | 0% | 9% | 9% | |
| Religious Studies | 8 | 0% | 38% | 88% | |
| Biology | 7 | 14% | 29% | 29% | |
| History | 6 | 0% | 33% | 50% | |
| Mathematics (Further) | 6 | 17% | 50% | 67% | |
| Chemistry | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Computer Science | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| English Language | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Spanish | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
No Cambridge offers this year
UCAS apply centre 16944: St Alban's 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) | 67% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 0% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 72% | — | — |
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 Suffolk 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.