St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy, Wallasey

Ofsted's report card from its 27 January 2026 inspection grades St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy on 7 areas: 6 expected standard and 1 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders are determined that every pupil attends school every day."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that an ambitious, well-planned curriculum is in place."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have ensured that the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly and accurately."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders and those responsible for governance have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed a well-thought-out programme to support pupils' wider development."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that students in the sixth form have a curriculum that is ambitious and meets their needs."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or have barriers to their learning, do not achieve as well as they should in comparison to national expectations at the end of key stage 4."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "• Leaders should ensure that the checks used to identify and address gaps in pupils' learning are used consistently well across the school. • Leaders must ensure all pupils develop appropriate knowledge and skills across the curriculum so that they achieve as well as they should in national examinations. • Leaders should ensure that their actions to improve attendance are embedded and sustained so that attendance for all pupils continues to improve".

The school runs a breakfast club.

In 2026, pupils at St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 34, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 47.2 in Wirral and 47 across England.

19% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 47% in Wirral and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 33.2.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.99: pupils made well below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 28, against 40.3 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 12.3 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 27 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and History.

For September 2026 entry, 160 families put St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy as their first choice and 391 named it as one of their preferences, for 168 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy are The Mosslands School (0.4 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 34.5); Co-op Academy Oldershaw (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 29); Weatherhead High School (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 44.2); and St Anselm's College (2.4 miles, Good, selective, Attainment 8 63.1).

St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy is one of 9 schools run by Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Trust, an academy trust.

71 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy (as of April 2026): 49% would recommend the school, 47% say their child is happy there and 25% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (51%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (25%).

Of the 153 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 77% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 33% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 6% into work.

Of the 52 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 42% went on to university or other higher education, 4% to apprenticeships and 25% into work.

45.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 4% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 218 pupils (20.3%) received SEN support and 75 (7%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy has a resourced provision for autism: 26 places, 26 pupils on roll.

The nearest railway station is Wallasey Village Rail Station, about 300 metres away (roughly a 4-minute walk).

21 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is St Johns Road (adjacent), 20 metres away.

In 2024/25, St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy issued 544 suspensions, 48.4 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to St Mary's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy are St George's Primary School (0.1 miles); Greenleas Primary School (0.5 miles); Mount Primary School (0.7 miles); and St Alban's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy (0.9 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.