SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Carlisle, Cumberland

St John Henry Newman Catholic School

Scalegate Road, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA2 4NL

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic Full
School website 01228404942

Ofsted

Goodas at 24 May 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 24 May 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 4 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

41 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

53% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

58% 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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.69confidence interval -1.01 to -0.37

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
D+
Average points per entry
24.4

England average 32.3

A level students
11

Pupils

Pupils on roll
703
Places
700
How full
Full — 703 pupils against 700 places
Girls / boys
355 / 348
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
34%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
13%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
29%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
88%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
72%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
10%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
17%
No sustained destination
10%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
81

After sixth form

Went to university
70%

England 50%

In education, work or training
100%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
20

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

15% 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
63%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
27

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 Carlisle 012C, 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
17%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
31%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
54%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
32%

England 17%

Households with no car
36%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
47%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Voluntary aided school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Declan McArdle
Local authority
Cumberland
Ward
Upperby
Constituency
Carlisle
URN
112399

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Richard Rose Central AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 42.3 1.4 mi
Trinity SchoolAcademy converter No grade 41.4 1.7 mi
Austin FriarsOther independent school No grade 2.7 mi
Richard Rose Morton AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 43.4 3.1 mi
Caldew SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 44.3 4.3 mi
Lime House SchoolOther independent school No grade 5.6 mi
William Howard SchoolAcademy converter No grade 45 7.4 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
North Oxfordshire AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 46.8
Winchcombe SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 42.8
Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, HarlowAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 38.9
Burnt Mill AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 45.2
Hall Cross AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 47.8
Woodcote High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 46.1
St Anselm's Catholic School, CanterburyAcademy converter Good 2023 39.4
Bitterne Park SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 43.1

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.