SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in St Helens, St. Helens

Cowley International College

Hard Lane, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 6PN

Sixth form
School website 01744678030

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 10 March 2026.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

39.3 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

30% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

48% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.5 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

53% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.69confidence interval -0.87 to -0.51

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well below average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C-
Average points per entry
25.3

England average 32.3

A level students
73

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1514
Places
1620
How full
93% full — 1514 of 1620 places taken
Girls / boys
730 / 784
Overall absence
13%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
30%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
42%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
7%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
17%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
84%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
80%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
39%
No sustained destination
9%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
245

After sixth form

Went to university
39%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
11%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
127

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

7% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
55%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
136

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for St. Helens 007F, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
22%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
23%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
44%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
38%

England 17%

Households with no car
32%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Community school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Principal: Russell Cormack
Local authority
St. Helens
Ward
Windle
Constituency
St Helens North
URN
104829

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
De La Salle SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 1.1 mi
St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 42.6 1.8 mi
St Cuthbert's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 34.5 2.5 mi
The Sutton AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 43.1 2.8 mi
Outwood Academy HaydockAcademy sponsor led No grade 41.2 3 mi
Rainford High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 50.6 3.2 mi
The Prescot SchoolAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 35.5 3.5 mi
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 30.2 3.7 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Shirebrook AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.5
Harper Green SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 42.8
Barnsley AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 45.1
Alec Reed AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 45.1
Discovery AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 37.4
Halewood AcademyAcademy converter No grade 41.6
Reddish Vale High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Inadequate 2024 37.7
Castle Hall AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 46.9

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.