SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Wirral

St John Plessington Catholic College

Old Chester Road, Bebington, Wirral, Merseyside, CH63 7LF

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01516455049

Ofsted

Goodas at 22 November 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 22 November 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

37.2 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

29% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

50% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

27% 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 second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.35confidence interval -0.53 to -0.18

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.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C-
Average points per entry
27.2

England average 32.3

A level students
73

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1556
Places
1800
How full
86% full — 1556 of 1800 places taken
Girls / boys
682 / 874
Overall absence
11%

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
40%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
12%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
14%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
92%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
82%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
36%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
261

After sixth form

Went to university
48%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
11%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
132

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

9% 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
64%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
135

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 Wirral 032B, 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
34%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
16%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
77%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
8%

England 17%

Households with no car
22%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

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
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Peadar McLoughlin
Local authority
Wirral
Ward
Bebington
Constituency
Birkenhead
URN
139031

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Co-op Academy BebingtonAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 37.3 0.5 mi
Wirral Grammar School for GirlsAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 69.3 0.8 mi
Wirral Grammar School for BoysAcademy converter Good 2022 65.4 0.8 mi
Prenton High School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2022 38.9 1 mi
Progress Schools - Hamilton SquareOther independent school No grade 2.4 mi
Progress Schools - WirralOther independent school No grade 2.4 mi
King's Leadership Academy, LiverpoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 34.5 2.4 mi
Birkenhead Park SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 39.9 2.6 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
Friern Barnet SchoolCommunity school Good 2024 44.8
Belmont Community SchoolCommunity school Good 2024 53.4
Weatherhead High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 41.9
St Joseph's CollegeAcademy converter No grade 45.5
Armthorpe AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 39.5
Tudor Grange Academy RedditchAcademy converter No grade 29.8
Swanwick Hall SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 42.6
Trinity Church of England School, LewishamVoluntary aided school No grade 48.3

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.