St Mary's Catholic High School, Leyland

From the headteacher's welcome: "I am delighted to welcome you to St. Mary's Catholic High School. We are a thriving and vibrant community, dedicated to ensuring that our pupils are given every opportunity to flourish and fulfil their God-given potential. Here you will find a calm and purposeful working environment, with a rich extra-curricular provision, allowing pupils the opportunity to excel."

In 2026, pupils at St Mary's Catholic High School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.2 in Lancashire and 47 across England.

46% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 44% in Lancashire and 47% in England.

That is up from 45 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.11: pupils made 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 33.6, against 49.8 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 16.2 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 26 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and History.

For September 2026 entry, 199 families put St Mary's Catholic High School as their first choice and 474 named it as one of their preferences, for 160 places offered. That is 1.2 first choices for every place. 46 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to St Mary's Catholic High School are Academy@Worden (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 42.4); Wellfield Academy (0.8 miles, Attainment 8 34.8); Balshaw's Church of England High School (1 mile, Good, Attainment 8 53); and Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy (2.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 56.2).

St Mary's Catholic High School's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 4 schools.

112 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about St Mary's Catholic High School (as of September 2025): 92% would recommend the school, 88% say their child is happy there and 87% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (92%); the weakest, that their child does well at the school (86%).

Of the 151 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 82% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 78% to a further education college, 3% to an apprenticeship and 6% into work.

4.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 180 pupils (22.1%) received SEN support and 20 (2.5%) 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.

The nearest railway station is Leyland Rail Station, about 1.3 miles away in a straight line.

5 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is St Marys School (by), 80 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood St Mary's Catholic High School stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, St Mary's Catholic High School issued 122 suspensions, 14.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 3 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to St Mary's Catholic High School are Seven Stars Primary School (0.4 miles), St Anne's Catholic Primary School (0.4 miles), Woodlea Junior School (0.4 miles) and Leyland St Andrew's Church of England Infant School (0.4 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.