SF School Facts UK

Selective secondary school in Stoke-on-Trent

St Joseph's College

London Road, Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 5NT

Selective Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01782848008

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 29 April 2025.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

62.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

78% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

91% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

91% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 10% 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 top quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.81confidence interval 0.58 to 1.04

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
C+
Average points per entry
33.9

England average 32.3

A level students
184

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1104
Places
1115
How full
Nearly full — 1104 of 1115 places taken
Girls / boys
574 / 530
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
5%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
9%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
24%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
2%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
100%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
97%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
74%
No sustained destination
0%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
152

After sixth form

Went to university
64%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
207

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

29% 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
83%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
181

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 Stoke-on-Trent 023D, 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
27%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
20%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
47%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
14%

England 17%

Households with no car
32%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
37%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Selective (entrance test)
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE LAETARE CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Charlotte Slattery
Local authority
Stoke-on-Trent
Ward
Trent Vale & Oak Hill
Constituency
Stoke-on-Trent Central
URN
136460

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Clayton Hall AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 45.8 0.8 mi
Thistley Hough AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 47.9 0.8 mi
Trentham AcademyAcademy converter No grade 46.6 1.1 mi
St Peter's CofE AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 34.4 1.7 mi
Newcastle-under-Lyme SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.8 mi
Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 41 1.8 mi
The RegistryOther independent school No grade 1.9 mi
St Thomas More Catholic AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 43.4 2.1 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
South Wilts Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 77
Alcester Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 73.7
King Edward VI Grammar School, ChelmsfordAcademy converter No grade 83.3
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School PenrithAcademy converter Good 2023 64.8
Haberdashers' AdamsAcademy converter Good 2022 71.8
Tiffin SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 79.1
Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2024 59
Altrincham Grammar School for BoysAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 78.5

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.