Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Science College
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · Luton
Warden Hill Road, Luton, LU2 7AE
69
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
79%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
93.5%
16.9% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,655
Capacity used
Over capacity118%
1,400 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
79%
1st preference success rate
232 of 292 families who put it first got an offer
246
Places offered
455
Total applications
1.8
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 292 | 232 | ● 79% |
| 2nd preference | 114 | 12 | ● 11% |
| 3rd preference | 49 | 2 | ● 4% |
| Total | 455 | 246 | 54% |
1st preference success by year
Luton lets families list 3 preferences. 2 applications came from outside the council area (1 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
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Helen Fay
- Address
- Warden Hill Road, Luton, LU2 7AE
- Phone
- 01582597125
- Local authority
- Luton
- Ward / constituency
- Bramingham · Luton North
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 142310
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 19% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 30% | — | — |
| SEN support | 11% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 3 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: ST THOMAS CATHOLIC ACADEMIES TRUST
1,655 pupils · 1,400 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
22 May 2024
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,410 pupils
Attendance
93.5%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
6.5%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
16.9%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
1.3%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
1.8%
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 | 48.5 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.38 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 47% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 69% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.60 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 33.65 | — | — |
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 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 46.4% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 69.9% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 82.2% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.68 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 276 | — |
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 | 36.06 | 35 |
| Average grade | B- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 16.3% | 17% |
| A-level students | 111 | — |
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 | 270 | 19% | 54% | 78% | |
| English Language | 269 | 24% | 59% | 74% | |
| English Literature | 268 | 26% | 62% | 77% | |
| Combined Science | 266 | 21% | 52% | 66% | |
| Religious Studies | 266 | 38% | 67% | 76% | |
| French | 186 | 13% | 41% | 52% | |
| History | 129 | 23% | 46% | 58% | |
| Business | 127 | 17% | 49% | 66% | |
| Geography | 126 | 27% | 55% | 70% | |
| Art and Design | 95 | 24% | 58% | 82% | |
| Computer Science | 58 | 29% | 69% | 79% | |
| Polish | 46 | 93% | 100% | 100% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 44 | 9% | 36% | 61% | |
| Sociology | 26 | 4% | 15% | 38% | |
| Law | 24 | 4% | 8% | 58% | |
| Psychology | 23 | 0% | 4% | 22% | |
| Economics | 20 | 5% | 45% | 60% | |
| Accounting and Finance | 17 | 0% | 24% | 41% | |
| Biology | 16 | 6% | 31% | 69% | |
| Chemistry | 16 | 13% | 25% | 56% | |
| Business Studies | 15 | 7% | 33% | 47% | |
| Physics | 13 | 0% | 31% | 46% | |
| English Language | 13 | 0% | 0% | 31% | |
| Computer Science | 12 | 8% | 8% | 67% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 14277: Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Science College
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | 6 |
| 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) | 58% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 11% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 60% | — | — |
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 Luton 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.