Cardinal Newman Catholic High School

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School has been judged as good overall, performing well across all key areas, including the quality of education, behaviour, personal development, and leadership. Pupils express pride in their belonging to this welcoming community, where high expectations from leaders encourage achievement. The school is noted for its effective support for students, especially those with special educational needs, and the positive relationships fostered between staff and pupils contribute to a safe and engaging learning environment.

Strengths

• Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and achievement.
• Pupils enjoy learning and achieve well.
• Teachers use their subject knowledge effectively to deepen learning.
• There are strong support mechanisms for pupils with SEND.
• Pupils benefit from a range of extracurricular activities and learning opportunities.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, assessment strategies are not effectively identifying gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School attended 90.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 27.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 7.4% of pupils at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Cardinal Newman Catholic High School had 14.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.6% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 19.2% of pupils at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Cardinal Newman Catholic High School received £8,513 and spent £8,596 for each of its 808 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £351,000 (£435 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Warrington · Warrington local authority: places and applications

What is Cardinal Newman Catholic High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Cardinal Newman Catholic High School is Good, from an inspection in January 2023.

When was Cardinal Newman Catholic High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School was last inspected in January 2023.

How many pupils does Cardinal Newman Catholic High School have?

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School has 808 pupils on roll.

What age range does Cardinal Newman Catholic High School cover?

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Cardinal Newman Catholic High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.1, and 42% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Cardinal Newman Catholic High School?

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School is at Bridgewater Avenue, Latchford, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 1RX.