SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Blackpool

St Mary's Catholic Academy

St Walburga's Road, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY3 7EQ

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01253396286

Ofsted

Goodas at 10 May 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 10 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

41.5 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

55% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

12% 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 most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.70confidence interval -0.89 to -0.50

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
C
Average points per entry
31.2

England average 32.3

A level students
62

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1188
Places
1199
How full
Nearly full — 1188 of 1199 places taken
Girls / boys
607 / 581
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
22%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
37%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
28%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

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
82%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
34%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
195

After sixth form

Went to university
66%

England 50%

In education, work or training
93%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
76

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

8% 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
69%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
89

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 Blackpool 009F, 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
41%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
13%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
71%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
1%

England 17%

Households with no car
15%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
32%

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 BLESSED EDWARD BAMBER CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Simon Eccles
Local authority
Blackpool
Ward
Park
Constituency
Blackpool South
URN
141257

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Lancashire Alternative ProvisionOther independent school No grade 0.7 mi
Blackpool Aspire AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 36.7 0.7 mi
Tower Learning Centre Independent SchoolOther independent school No grade 1 mi
Unity Academy BlackpoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 29.3 1 mi
Baines SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 45.8 1.3 mi
BFC SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.9 mi
St George's School A Church of England AcademyAcademy converter No grade 55.5 2 mi
Montgomery AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 40 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
Withernsea High SchoolCommunity school No grade 38.9
Harris City Academy Crystal PalaceAcademy sponsor led No grade 52.3
The Phoenix CollegiateFoundation school Good 2023 39.8
The Westleigh SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 36.4
Stretford High SchoolFoundation school No grade 44.4
Copthall SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47.4
Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 36.6
Beckfoot OakbankAcademy sponsor led No grade 35.3

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.