SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Liverpool

The Academy of St Nicholas

51 Horrocks Avenue, Garston, Liverpool, Merseyside, L19 5NY

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Roman Catholic/Church of England
School website 01512302570

Ofsted

Goodas at 6 December 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 6 December 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

29.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

20% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

39% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

2.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

14% England 40.8%

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

Progress 8 2023/24

-1.27confidence interval -1.54 to -1.00

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
D
Average points per entry
19.3

England average 32.3

A level students
52

Pupils

Pupils on roll
841
Places
1080
How full
78% full — 841 of 1080 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
442 / 399
Overall absence
12%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
37%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
57%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
34%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
23%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
82%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
77%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
43%
No sustained destination
15%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
102

After sixth form

Went to university
44%

England 50%

In education, work or training
73%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
75

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

11% 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
60%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
75

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 Liverpool 058D, 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
28%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
25%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
50%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
23%

England 17%

Households with no car
38%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
35%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic/Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE LIVERPOOL JOINT CATHOLIC AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND ACADEMIES TRUST
Headteacher
Head of School: Gary Lloyd
Local authority
Liverpool
Ward
Garston
Constituency
Liverpool Garston
URN
136119

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
ES Independent SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.5 mi
Prudentia EducationOther independent school No grade 0.7 mi
St Julie's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 46.9 1.6 mi
St Margaret's Church of England AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 49.6 1.9 mi
St Francis Xavier's Catholic AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2021 36.7 2 mi
Calderstones SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 46.1 2 mi
Halewood AcademyAcademy converter No grade 41.6 2.1 mi
Liverpool CollegeAcademy sponsor led No grade 55.1 2.3 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
Bordesley Green Girls' School & Sixth FormCommunity school Good 2022 49.8
The City Academy, HackneyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 49.1
Smith's Wood AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 32.2
Lordswood Boys' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 43.3
Waterside AcademyFree schools No grade 44.6
Thrybergh AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 28.8
Sheffield Springs AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.9
Tudor Grange Academy KingshurstAcademy sponsor led No grade 31.9

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.