SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Colne, Lancashire

Ss John Fisher and Thomas More Roman Catholic High School

Gibfield Road, Colne, Lancashire, BB8 8JT

Roman Catholic
School website 01282865299
Ofsted Report card May 2026
Attainment 8 44.1 in the lower half nationally
Chance of a place 90% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 5/10 mid-range

Ofsted

Report card19 May 2026

Ofsted report card published, on 19 May 2026.

The report card grades separate areas of the school's work. Ofsted does not combine them into one overall judgement.

Read the Ofsted report

Current published outcome
Report card — no overall grade
Last overall grade in this dataset
Not stored — this dataset keeps the latest inspection, which has no overall grade
Days since inspection
136 days
Framework era
Current framework (no overall grade)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

Safeguarding
Met
Inclusion
Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching
Expected standard
Achievement
Expected standard
Attendance and behaviour
Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing
Strong standard
Leadership and governance
Expected standard

The report-card scale is Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention and Urgent improvement. Safeguarding is graded Met or Not met. These are separate judgements, not a league table or an overall score. How Ofsted's current grades work.

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

44.1 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

43% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

68% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.6 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

19% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.45confidence interval -0.67 to -0.22

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

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

Slightly oversubscribed. Of the 193 families who named this school as their first choice, 90% were offered a place.

Places offered
179

for entry into Year 7

Named it first choice
193
First choices per place
1.08

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
90%

England 88.5%

First preferences per place are up 17% on three years ago.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
812
Places
900
How full
90% full — 812 of 900 places taken
Girls / boys
392 / 420
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
28%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
32%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
18%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
3

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
9

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
4

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
13

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Colne Rail Station

1.1 km away — railway station

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
80%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
3%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
151

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

The area around the school

5/10 Deprivation decile

Among around the middle for England.

7/10 Child poverty decile

Among the less deprived half of England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£179,900

postcode sector BB8 8 · 205 sales

Typical range
£122,000 to £245,000

middle half of sales

Detached
£270,000
Semi-detached
£200,000
Terraced
£142,500
Flat
£92,500

Homes around this school are cheaper than most of England.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
27%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
20%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
7%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
27%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
42%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
81%

England 62.7%

Social housing
2%

England 17%

Privately rented
16%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
17%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
11%

England 22.5%

No car
13%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Pendle 007C and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Voluntary aided school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–16
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Paul Dugdale
Opened as this establishment
1 January 1900
Register status
Open
Local authority
Lancashire
Ward
Waterside & Horsfield
Constituency
Pendle and Clitheroe
URN
119785

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Year 7

1.40 2014/15: 1.24 first choices per place2015/16: 1.22 first choices per place2016/17: 1.24 first choices per place2017/18: 1.10 first choices per place2018/19: 1.04 first choices per place2019/20: 1.14 first choices per place2020/21: 0.93 first choices per place2021/22: 0.93 first choices per place2022/23: 0.92 first choices per place2023/24: 0.93 first choices per place2024/25: 0.94 first choices per place2025/26: 0.92 first choices per place2026/27: 1.08 first choices per place2014201620182020202220242026
All 13 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2014/15 151 187 1.24 79%
2015/16 148 181 1.22 77%
2016/17 150 186 1.24 78%
2017/18 150 165 1.10 81%
2018/19 150 156 1.04 83%
2019/20 159 181 1.14 80%
2020/21 159 148 0.93 92%
2021/22 160 148 0.93 99%
2022/23 175 161 0.92 99%
2023/24 163 151 0.93 100%
2024/25 171 161 0.94 100%
2025/26 177 162 0.92 100%
2026/27 179 193 1.08 90%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8DistanceCompare
Colne Primet AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 35.4 -0.77-1.01 to -0.54 0.2 mi
Pendle Vale CollegeCommunity school Report card 2026 42.5 0.07-0.13 to 0.26 · not a win 0.4 mi
Edenfield Girls' High SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 1.2 mi
Colne Park High SchoolAcademy converter Report card 2026 38 -0.25-0.44 to -0.06 1.8 mi
Marsden Heights Community CollegeAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 40.3 0.14-0.07 to 0.35 · not a win 1.9 mi
Rosa House SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 2.6 mi
Sir John Thursby Community CollegeFoundation school Good 2023 41 -0.29-0.49 to -0.09 3.2 mi
Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College, A Voluntary AcademyAcademy converter Report card 2026 37.6 -0.32-0.51 to -0.14 4 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 44.1
Median of its 12 closest peers 44
Lancashire average 37.5
England average 47

Attainment 8 score. This school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8Compare
Ash Green SchoolAcademy converter Coventry No overall grade 40.7 -0.48-0.69 to -0.27
Sir Frederick Gibberd CollegeFree schools Harlow No overall grade 44 -0.09-0.36 to 0.18 · not a win
Queen's Park High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Chester No overall grade 44.2 -0.04-0.31 to 0.23 · not a win
Enfield Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Enfield Good 2024 49 -0.05-0.27 to 0.16 · not a win
Burnt Mill AcademyAcademy converter Harlow Good 2023 45.2 -0.21-0.42 to 0.00 · not a win
Future Academies WatfordAcademy sponsor led Watford No overall grade 39.8 -0.16-0.36 to 0.04 · not a win
Meols Cop High SchoolAcademy converter Southport Good 2023 44.7 -0.17-0.39 to 0.04 · not a win
Mark Hall AcademyAcademy sponsor led Harlow No overall grade 38.9 -0.82-1.05 to -0.59
Christ The King Catholic High School and Sixth Form CentreVoluntary aided school Southport Good 2023 41.8 -0.62-0.89 to -0.35
Nottingham Free SchoolFree schools Nottingham Good 2022 51.5 0.290.02 to 0.56
Arrow Vale High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Redditch No overall grade 38.8 -0.38-0.57 to -0.20
Graham SchoolAcademy sponsor led Scarborough Report card 2026 38.3 -0.53-0.73 to -0.33

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 119785; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 19 May 2026
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
Progress 8DfE performance tables2023/24Exact URN; confidence interval retained
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

Which exact school is this?

Match the DfE URN, school name and address; names and structures can change while the URN remains the stable identifier.

What does the latest inspection evidence say?

Use the inspection date and framework shown. Do not compare a legacy overall grade directly with the newer report-card judgements.

How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

What must a parent verify?

Check current admissions rules, travel practicality, support for the child’s needs and the school’s latest official information before deciding.