St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is a larger-than-average Catholic secondary school in Stoke-on-Trent and is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust. In its January 2026 full section 5 inspection, the school was judged to be at the expected standard across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, personal development and wellbeing, and post-16 provision. Safeguarding standards are met. The report paints a picture of a school with a strong culture of care, clear expectations, and sustained improvement. The school's strengths include a warm but strict ethos, respectful relationships, attendance above national averages, persistent absence below national averages, calm and orderly lessons, and rare bullying. Leaders have a clear ethical vision, the trust and governors provide effective oversight, and staff feel valued and supported. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, reading is a whole-school priority, and personal development and careers education are thoughtfully delivered. The sixth form is described as caring, with individualised support and strong role modelling, and pupils are well prepared for their next steps. There are still areas for improvement. Teachers do not consistently identify and meet the precise needs of all pupils, assessment is not always used sharply enough to close gaps, and adaptations for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities can be too generic. Some pupils' written work lacks depth, and some pupils and sixth-form students do not make as much progress as they should. Published sixth-form outcomes have varied and trailed classroom performance, and recent actions to strengthen achievement need to become fully embedded. Overall, this is a secure and improving school with a strong caring culture, but leaders need to embed greater consistency in teaching, assessment and support.

Strengths

• Strong culture of care with respectful, warm relationships between staff and pupils.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture and pupils feeling safe.
• Attendance is above national averages and persistent absence is below national averages.
• Behaviour is calm and disruption-free, with bullying and prejudicial behaviour rare.
• Leaders embed an effective warm-strict culture that helps pupils flourish.
• The curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious, with high EBacc entry and vocational options.
• Teachers demonstrate secure subject expertise and explain concepts clearly.
• Reading is a whole-school priority with targeted support for early readers and subject vocabulary.
• Personal development is thoughtfully delivered and inclusive through the Touching Hearts programme.
• Careers education is impartial, meets requirements and supports strong destinations.
• The sixth form provides caring, individualised support and a strong sense of community.
• Sixth-form students act as role models and mentors for younger pupils.
• Leadership has a clear ethical vision, robust quality assurance and accurate self-evaluation.
• Trust and governors provide effective oversight and focused support and challenge.
• Staff professional development is high quality, and leaders consider staff workload and wellbeing.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes improved in 2025, with gaps narrowing in English and mathematics.
• Enrichment, leadership roles, charity projects and clubs are open to all, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.

Areas for Improvement

• Teachers do not consistently identify and meet the precise needs of all pupils so that misconceptions are addressed swiftly.
• Assessment is not used consistently and effectively across all subjects to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Adaptations for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are not applied with consistent precision.
• Guidance for some disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND remains too generic, sometimes leading to unfinished work.
• The quality and depth of some pupils' written work is not consistently secure.
• Checks on understanding and assessments are not always sharp enough to refine next steps, so gaps and misconceptions can persist.
• Recent actions to strengthen sixth-form achievement are not yet fully embedded and need to lead to consistently positive results.
• Some pupils and sixth-form students do not make as much progress as they should.
• Key stage 4 Progress 8 was below national average in 2023/24, including for disadvantaged pupils.
• A-level average point score and A-level value added were below national averages in 2024/25.

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 Margaret Ward Catholic Academy attended 93.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 18.9% 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, 9.7% of pupils at St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy had 15.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.4% 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, 9.5% of pupils at St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.1% 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 St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy received £8,279 and spent £8,240 for each of its 1,141 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £778,000 (£682 per pupil).

Across all 56 schools of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, income was £7,565 and spending £7,594 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.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Stoke-On-Trent · Stoke-on-Trent local authority: places and applications

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is part of St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 64 schools. The nearest others:

• St Wilfrid's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St Joseph's Catholic Academy, Goldenhill Stoke-On-Trent
• St Marys Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St John the Evangelist Catholic Academy Kidsgrove
• St Peter's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St George and St Martin's Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St Wulstan's Catholic Primary School Newcastle
• Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• Our Lady and St Benedict Catholic Academy Stoke-On-Trent
• St John Fisher Catholic College Newcastle Under Lyme

What is St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in March 2026.

When was St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy was last inspected in March 2026.

How many pupils does St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy have?

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy has 1,143 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy cover?

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 42.3, and 40% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy?

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is at Little Chell Lane, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST6 6LZ.