SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Harrogate, North Yorkshire

St John Fisher Catholic Academy

Hookstone Drive, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 8PT

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01423887254

Ofsted

Goodas at 13 December 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 13 December 2022.

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

55.1 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

62% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

80% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

78% England 40.8%

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

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

Progress 8 2023/24

0.59confidence interval 0.41 to 0.78

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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
B-
Average points per entry
36.3

England average 32.3

A level students
459

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1250
Places
1383
How full
90% full — 1250 of 1383 places taken
Girls / boys
662 / 588
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
20%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
10%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
98%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
93%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
65%
No sustained destination
2%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
207

After sixth form

Went to university
52%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
496

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

38% 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
76%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
502

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 Harrogate 017A, 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
44%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
14%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
82%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
9%

England 17%

Households with no car
14%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
47%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE BISHOP WHEELER CATHOLIC ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Steve Mort
Local authority
North Yorkshire
Ward
Stray, Woodlands & Hookstone
Constituency
Harrogate and Knaresborough
URN
148855

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
St Aidan's Church of England High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 56.4 0.4 mi
Harrogate High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 39.1 1 mi
Harrogate Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 56.6 1.2 mi
Rossett SchoolAcademy converter No grade 44.1 1.5 mi
Ashville CollegeOther independent school No grade 1.6 mi
Harrogate Ladies' CollegeOther independent school No grade 1.6 mi
King James's SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 46.1 2.7 mi
Gateways SchoolOther independent school No grade 5.9 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
Queen Elizabeth SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 59.6
Dartford Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 79.9
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 65.1
Beaumont SchoolAcademy converter No grade 62.6
Hitchin Boys' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.1
The Tiffin Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 85.3
Rosebery SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.5
Torquay Boys' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70.8

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.