Saint Paul's Catholic High School

Saint Paul's Catholic High School is a Catholic secondary school in the Corpus Christi Catholic Academy Trust, with a resourced provision for 12 pupils with autism. It serves a community with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, pupils with EHC plans and SEN support, and significant location deprivation. Many pupils join later in their education and arrive well below national average prior attainment. The inspection found safeguarding standards are met. Overall, the school is performing well in most areas: attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing are all secure, while achievement and curriculum and teaching require further attention. The school's strengths lie in its caring and inclusive culture. Pupils behave well, feel safe and are positive about the support they receive. Bullying is rare and dealt with quickly. Leaders have strengthened pastoral care, attendance work and provision for pupils with SEND, including through specialist staffing and the autism resourced provision. Staff morale is high, leadership is well informed, and pupils benefit from a broad personal development offer, enrichment and careers guidance. Most pupils move on successfully to further education or training. However, published examination outcomes are below national averages, including Progress 8, and disadvantaged pupils perform less well than their peers nationally. Curriculum implementation is inconsistent, teaching strategies are not always used effectively, and assessment does not consistently identify gaps or readiness to move on. Pupils with SEND are affected by these inconsistencies. Persistent absence also remains higher than leaders intend, and support for writing and handwriting is less developed. Leaders have improvement plans in place and there are early signs of progress, but these areas need further work.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.
• Pupils behave well in lessons and at social times.
• Pupils typically show kindness and respect to one another and to staff.
• Bullying and other forms of harassment are rare and dealt with quickly by staff.
• Pastoral support is effective, including therapeutic support, counselling and help to reduce anxiety.
• Attendance is broadly in line with national averages, and pupils with SEND or other barriers attend above similar pupils nationally.
• Leaders proactively identify additional needs, including for pupils who join the school later.
• Staff receive comprehensive professional learning to support SEND and other additional needs.
• The autism resourced provision helps pupils access the same curriculum in a supportive environment.
• Leaders and directors have a clear, accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.
• Leaders use additional funding effectively to reduce barriers for pupils.
• Staff morale is high, and leaders are mindful of staff wellbeing and workload.
• The personal development curriculum covers British values, online safety and sensitive national topics well.
• Pupils can access Duke of Edinburgh, enrichment activities, leadership roles and comprehensive careers advice.
• Pupils are generally successful in their next steps after school, including further education and apprenticeships.
• Pupils feel safe, trust staff and benefit from a strong sense of belonging.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils do not achieve as well as they should in national examinations.
• Progress 8 has been negative and below the national average.
• Disadvantaged pupils' attainment and progress are below national averages, with a large disadvantage gap.
• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent across subjects.
• Teaching strategies expected by leaders are often not used effectively.
• Assessment is sometimes not used well enough to identify gaps or readiness for more complex learning.
• Pupils with SEND are affected by general inconsistencies in teaching and do not make the progress they should.
• Persistent absence remains higher than leaders intend and is above the national average.
• Overall absence is above the national average.
• Support for pupils' writing and handwriting is at an earlier stage of development.
• Leaders need to ensure effective teaching approaches are implemented consistently so all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve more highly.
• Leaders need to strengthen assessment strategies so gaps in pupils' knowledge are identified and addressed more quickly.
• Leaders need to refine attendance strategies so persistent absence reduces further and pupils lose less learning time.
• Leaders need to embed recent approaches to improving handwriting so pupils develop greater written fluency.

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 Saint Paul's Catholic High School attended 90.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 27.7% 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, 9.0% of pupils at Saint Paul's Catholic High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 4 pupils were 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 Saint Paul's Catholic High School had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.3% 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, 21.4% of pupils at Saint Paul's Catholic High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 11.1% 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 2024–25 Saint Paul's Catholic High School received £10,296 and spent £9,989 for each of its 953 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £346,000 (£363 per pupil).

Across all 12 schools of Corpus Christi Catholic Academy Trust, income was £7,953 and spending £8,018 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

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

Saint Paul's Catholic High School is part of Corpus Christi Catholic Academy Trust, which runs 15 schools. The nearest others:

• Ss John Fisher and Thomas More Catholic Primary School Manchester
• St Anthony's Catholic Primary School Manchester
• St Elizabeth's Catholic Primary School Manchester
• St. Aidan's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Manchester
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Sale
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Stockport
• St Philip's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Stockport
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy Manchester
• St Christopher's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Stockport
• St. Paul's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Hyde

What is Saint Paul's Catholic High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Saint Paul's Catholic High School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Saint Paul's Catholic High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Saint Paul's Catholic High School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Saint Paul's Catholic High School have?

Saint Paul's Catholic High School has 933 pupils on roll.

What age range does Saint Paul's Catholic High School cover?

Saint Paul's Catholic High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Saint Paul's Catholic High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 38.4, and 35% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Saint Paul's Catholic High School?

Saint Paul's Catholic High School is at Firbank Road, Newall Green, MANCHESTER, M23 2YS.