St Thomas More Catholic High School

St Thomas More Catholic High School is a friendly, caring and inclusive secondary school where pupils feel safe and happy and typically achieve well. Leaders, including a new headteacher and senior team, have maintained ambition and a clear improvement vision, with a renewed focus on provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils benefit from a broad curriculum, strong subject teaching and effective support for pupils with SEND. Behaviour is calm and orderly, personal development is strong, attendance is typically high, including for disadvantaged pupils, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The main areas for improvement concern consistency. Not all teachers systematically check pupils' understanding or the accuracy of their work before moving learning on, so some pupils develop gaps in their learning. The school also does not regularly check all pupils' reading knowledge, meaning a small proportion of older pupils miss sustained reading interventions and are less able to access the full curriculum. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and followed leadership changes since the previous inspection. The school is a single academy within the South Cheshire Catholic Multi-Academy Trust and is overseen by a board of trustees.

Strengths

• Friendly, caring and inclusive school community where pupils feel safe and happy.
• Ambitious curriculum for all pupils, including those with SEND.
• Strong subject knowledge among teachers, with good support for those new to the school or subject.
• Pupils achieve well and are well prepared for their next steps.
• Calm and orderly environment with positive behaviour in lessons and around school.
• Strong personal development programme covering health, relationships, British values and careers.
• High attendance and low persistent absence, including for disadvantaged pupils.
• Effective safeguarding arrangements and strong pastoral support for pupils.
• Good support for pupils with SEND, including high-quality training for teachers.
• Broad extra-curricular offer including sports, music, drama, trips and catch-up clubs.
• Trust and governance have a thorough understanding of the school's strengths and priorities.

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment is not used consistently by all teachers to check pupils' understanding and address misconceptions before moving on.
• Some pupils develop gaps in their learning because checks on prior knowledge are inconsistent.
• The school does not regularly check all pupils' reading knowledge.
• A small proportion of older pupils do not receive sustained reading interventions and cannot access the full curriculum as well as they should.

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 St Thomas More Catholic High School attended 93.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 15.1% 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, 5.7% of pupils at St Thomas More 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 St Thomas More Catholic High School had 15.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.7% 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, 8.3% of pupils at St Thomas More Catholic High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.0% 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 St Thomas More Catholic High School received £8,972 and spent £8,791 for each of its 647 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £2,014,000 (£3,113 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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What is St Thomas More Catholic High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Thomas More Catholic High School is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was St Thomas More Catholic High School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Thomas More Catholic High School was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does St Thomas More Catholic High School have?

St Thomas More Catholic High School has 642 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Thomas More Catholic High School cover?

St Thomas More Catholic High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are St Thomas More Catholic High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 49.0, and 44% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Thomas More Catholic High School?

St Thomas More Catholic High School is at Dane Bank Avenue, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 8AE.