St Mary's Catholic High School, Croydon

Ofsted's report card from its 13 January 2026 inspection grades St Mary's Catholic High School on 6 areas: 4 expected standard and 2 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 make attendance a key priority."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have created an inclusive climate in which staff take care to understand and help pupils."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leadership and governance makes a real difference to staff and pupils at this school."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "The school's personal development programme purposefully broadens pupils' knowledge of the world and themselves."

Achievement - Needs attention. "There are inconsistencies in how well pupils achieve, particularly in written and spoken communication."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Pupils' written and spoken communication is not consistently well supported across the curriculum."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "• Leaders should ensure that successful adaptations to teaching and resources are consistently made so that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities develop their knowledge and achieve well over time. • Leaders should improve how the curriculum and the school's academic support develops pupils' foundations in key aspects of learning, particularly the accuracy and fluency of their written and spoken communication".

In 2026, pupils at St Mary's Catholic High School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.7, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.4 in Croydon and 47 across England.

50% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 46% in Croydon and 47% in England.

That is up from 36.5 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.29: pupils made above 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 47.5, against 46.3 for other pupils at the school.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 17 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Religious Studies and Business Studies.

For September 2026 entry, 45 families put St Mary's Catholic High School as their first choice and 229 named it as one of their preferences, for 108 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 High School are Harris Invictus Academy Croydon (0.3 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 46.1); Harris Federation Post 16 (0.4 miles); Ark Blake Academy (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.5); and BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 48.5).

St Mary's Catholic High School's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 3 schools.

10 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about St Mary's Catholic High School (as of April 2026): 70% would recommend the school, 70% say their child is happy there and 100% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (100%); the weakest, that their child is happy at the school (70%).

Of the 107 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 93% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 54% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

34.3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 60.2% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Black (46%), Asian (20%) and Mixed (13%).

In 2026, 69 pupils (12.2%) received SEN support and 15 (2.7%) 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 speech, language and communication needs.

The nearest railway station is West Croydon Station, about 310 metres away (roughly a 4-minute walk).

20 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Bedford Hall, 100 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 1269 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 Croydon (488), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, St Mary's Catholic High School issued 35 suspensions, 6.2 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The primary schools closest to St Mary's Catholic High School are St. Mary's Catholic Junior School (0.1 miles), St Mary's Catholic Infant School (0.1 miles), Chestnut Park Primary School (0.4 miles) and Ark Oval Primary Academy (0.4 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.