SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Manchester, Wigan

St Mary's Catholic High School

Manchester Road, Astley, Manchester, M29 7EE

Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01942884144

Ofsted

Standards maintained at the last ungraded inspection, on 9 October 2024.

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

44.2 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

38% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

63% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

21% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.20confidence interval -0.38 to -0.02

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
30.1

England average 32.3

A level students
89

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1537
Places
1569
How full
Nearly full — 1537 of 1569 places taken
Girls / boys
801 / 736
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
21%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
20%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
10%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
85%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
47%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
249

After sixth form

Went to university
45%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
13%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
142

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

16% 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
55%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
141

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 Wigan 029B, 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
32%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
87%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
1%

England 17%

Households with no car
8%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
35%

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: Denise Brahms
Local authority
Wigan
Ward
Astley
Constituency
Worsley and Eccles
URN
106538

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Bedford High SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 45.5 1.1 mi
Fred Longworth High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 45.9 1.4 mi
Atherton High SchoolFree schools Good 2024 39.3 2.1 mi
The Lowry AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 44.7 2.9 mi
Star Salford AcademyFree schools No grade 2.9 mi
The Westleigh SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 36.4 3 mi
Culcheth High SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 51.1 3.4 mi
Co-op Academy WalkdenAcademy converter Good 2023 43.6 3.5 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
Lytchett Minster SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 46.8
Coombe Dean SchoolAcademy converter No grade 49.2
Plymstock SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47.3
Wildern SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 48.6
The Thomas Hardye SchoolAcademy converter No grade 49.8
St Bede's Inter-Church SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 61.6
Christ The King Voluntary AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 48.9
Newquay TretherrasAcademy converter Good 2024 48.4

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.