Christ The King Catholic High School, Preston

Ofsted's report card from its 7 July 2026 inspection grades Christ The King Catholic High School on 6 areas: 3 expected standard and 3 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have developed processes to identify the barriers that some pupils face."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "The actions that leaders have taken over recent years have led to tangible improvements."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Given the disadvantages that many pupils face, leaders rightly prioritise broadening pupils' views of the world."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils who left this school in 2025 did not achieve as well as they should."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Although pupils' rates of attendance have recently improved, this improvement has not been sustained."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Leaders have introduced appropriate teaching strategies, but these are not consistently used in classrooms effectively."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that the school's agreed teaching strategies are consistently embedded in all subjects so that pupils learn the curriculum well and achieve more highly"; "Leaders should ensure that assessment information is used consistently well to address misconceptions and better support their future learning"; "Leaders should ensure that effective strategies to reduce pupils' barriers to learning are put in place consistently"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils' barriers to attendance are consistently reduced so that attendance improves"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils' gaps in foundational numeracy and literacy knowledge are closed quickly".

From the headteacher's welcome: "Christ the King is a voluntary-aided, co-educational Catholic secondary school for students aged 11 to 16, serving the vibrant Catholic community of Preston within the Diocese of Lancaster."

In 2026, pupils at Christ The King Catholic High School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 41, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.2 in Lancashire and 47 across England.

38% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 44% in Lancashire and 47% in England.

That is up from 35.9 in 2025.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 35.9, against 44.3 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 8.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 19 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and History.

For September 2026 entry, 75 families put Christ The King Catholic High School as their first choice and 210 named it as one of their preferences, for 95 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 3 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Christ The King Catholic High School are Eden Boys' School, Preston (0.6 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 54.5); Preston Muslim Girls High School (1.1 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 61.7); Moor Park High School (1.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.2); and Lostock Hall Academy (1.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 47.2).

Christ The King Catholic High School's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

Christ The King Catholic High School is one of 17 schools run by Mater Ecclesiae Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, an academy trust.

48.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 37.4% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (38%), Asian (21%) and Black (9%).

Christ The King Catholic High School had 3 teachers in 2026, one for every 138 pupils: fewer teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

The nearest railway station is Preston Rail Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.

5 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Christ The King RCHS (by), 100 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 600 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Lancashire (109), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Christ The King Catholic High School issued 226 suspensions, 54.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Christ The King Catholic High School are Frenchwood Community Primary School (0.2 miles); St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Preston (0.4 miles); Walton-le-Dale, St Leonard's Church of England Primary School (0.6 miles); and St Stephen's CofE School (1 mile). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.