SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Stoke-on-Trent

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy

Little Chell Lane, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST6 6LZ

Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01782883000

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 27 January 2026.

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

43 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

40% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

64% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

70% 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 second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.44confidence interval -0.64 to -0.24

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
27.9

England average 32.3

A level students
41

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1143
Places
1200
How full
Nearly full — 1143 of 1200 places taken
Girls / boys
582 / 561
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
19%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
38%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
33%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
92%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
87%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
29%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
204

After sixth form

Went to university
56%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
11%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
54

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

21% 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
81%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
52

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 006A, 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
18%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
29%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
62%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
16%

England 17%

Households with no car
27%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
40%

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
ST GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL CATHOLIC MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Dominic McKenna
Local authority
Stoke-on-Trent
Ward
Great Chell & Packmoor
Constituency
Stoke-on-Trent North
URN
140149

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Ormiston Horizon AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 37.3 0.3 mi
Haywood AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 36.1 1 mi
Co-op Academy Stoke-On-TrentAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 42.7 1.2 mi
The Excel AcademyAcademy converter Good 2021 37.5 2.2 mi
The King's CofE AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 40.1 2.3 mi
Kidsgrove Secondary SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 35.9 2.4 mi
Birches Head AcademyAcademy converter Inadequate 2023 31.3 2.7 mi
Sporting Stars AcademyOther independent school No grade 2.8 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
The Priory City of Lincoln AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 35.6
The Grange AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 41.3
Aldercar High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 33.9
De La Salle SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2024 41.8
St George's Church of England Foundation SchoolFoundation school No grade 37.7
Madeley AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 47.2
St Aidan's Church of England AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 40
Bedford AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 42.8

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.