SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Prescot, St. Helens

Rainhill High School

Warrington Road, Rainhill, Prescot, Merseyside, L35 6NY

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01744677205

Ofsted

Goodas at 22 February 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 22 February 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

45.9 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

41% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

64% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

39% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.12confidence interval -0.28 to 0.04

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
31.3

England average 32.3

A level students
51

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1535
Places
1550
How full
Nearly full — 1535 of 1550 places taken
Girls / boys
785 / 750
Overall absence
6%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
16%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
18%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
5%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
13%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
86%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
20%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
294

After sixth form

Went to university
34%

England 50%

In education, work or training
85%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
174

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

17% 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
51%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
109

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 023B, 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
38%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
13%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
88%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
2%

England 17%

Households with no car
11%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
41%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
STEPHENSON MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Josie Thorogood
Local authority
St. Helens
Ward
Rainhill
Constituency
St Helens South and Whiston
URN
144326

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Tower CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.4 mi
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 30.2 1.3 mi
The Sutton AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 43.1 1.4 mi
Wade Deacon High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 54 2.6 mi
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 41.4 2.7 mi
Ormiston Chadwick AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 41.2 2.7 mi
The Prescot SchoolAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 35.5 2.8 mi
De La Salle SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 3.1 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
Sandy Secondary SchoolFoundation school No grade 40.8
Joseph Rowntree SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2022 48.2
Garforth AcademyAcademy converter No grade 53.1
Rainham School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2022 44.3
The Corsham SchoolAcademy converter No grade 47.5
Bishop Fox's SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 46.9
Bury St Edmunds County High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.8
Longsands AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 48.5

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.