SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Northampton, West Northamptonshire

St Thomas Becket Catholic School

Becket Way, Kettering Road North, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN3 6HT

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic
School website 01604493211

Ofsted

Goodas at 8 November 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 8 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

38.7 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

32% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

50% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

16% 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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.22confidence interval -0.48 to 0.03

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
B
Average points per entry
38.5

England average 32.3

A level students
34

Pupils

Pupils on roll
912
Places
1136
How full
80% full — 912 of 1136 places taken
Girls / boys
446 / 466
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
29%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
30%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
42%

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
88%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
84%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
31%
No sustained destination
11%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
131

After sixth form

Went to university
70%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
61

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
67%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
57

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 West Northamptonshire 007B, 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
26%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
22%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
86%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
2%

England 17%

Households with no car
14%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
44%

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
OUR LADY IMMACULATE CATHOLIC ACADEMIES TRUST LTD
Headteacher
Headteacher: Paul McCahill
Local authority
West Northamptonshire
Ward
Parklands
Constituency
Northampton North
URN
142747

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Northampton School for GirlsAcademy converter No grade 54.9 0.6 mi
Weston Favell AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 41.8 1 mi
Kingsthorpe CollegeAcademy converter No grade 39.6 1 mi
Northampton SchoolFree schools No grade 1.3 mi
Moulton School and Science CollegeAcademy converter Good 2023 46.1 1.3 mi
Northampton AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2023 52.1 1.4 mi
Malcolm Arnold AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 41.4 1.6 mi
Oneschool Global Uk, Northampton CampusOther independent school No grade 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
Pudsey Grammar SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 44
The Hayling CollegeFoundation school No grade 38.3
The Regis SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 43.6
The Ramsey Academy, HalsteadAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.3
Kempston AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 40.3
Goole AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 49.9
Buckler's Mead SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 44.5
The Harleston Sancroft Academy (a 3-16 Church of England School)Academy converter No grade 42.7

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.