St Mary's Catholic Academy

St Mary's Catholic Academy is a Catholic secondary school in Blackpool, part of Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust. It has 1,184 pupils and a higher-than-average proportion eligible for free school meals. This full inspection found safeguarding standards met and most areas—attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, personal development, and post-16 provision—meeting the expected standard. Achievement, however, needs attention. The school's strongest work is in culture and inclusion. Pupils feel safe, attend well and behave respectfully in a calm environment. Leaders identify SEND and disadvantaged pupils' needs early and provide effective support, and the personal development programme, enrichment and careers guidance are broad. Post-16 students are positive and generally progress to sustained destinations. Leadership is clear and well supported by governance, and staff development is effective. The main weakness is pupil achievement. National examination outcomes are below average across many subjects, and Progress 8 and English and maths grade 5 results are below national averages. Teaching is not consistently strong enough across the curriculum, so pupils do not always develop secure knowledge. Leaders recognise this and have begun improvement work, with early signs in reading and for some groups, but these actions have not yet secured consistently positive achievement.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils feel safe and know how to raise concerns.
• Attendance is in line with national averages and improving, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Pupils behave well in a calm, orderly culture, and disruption to learning is uncommon.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with clear links to local employment and logical sequencing.
• Inclusion is a strength: needs are identified early and support is well matched, including effective use of funding.
• Leaders, governors and trustees have a clear improvement strategy and provide appropriate challenge and support.
• Staff receive effective professional development, and leaders are mindful of staff wellbeing.
• Personal development is broad, with strong enrichment, pastoral support, pupil leadership and careers guidance.
• Post-16 students are positive, achieve broadly in line with national averages and move on to sustained destinations.
• Reading improvements are helping pupils access the curriculum and use subject-specific vocabulary.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement is the main concern: outcomes in national examinations are below average across many subjects.
• Progress 8 and GCSE English and maths grade 5 outcomes are below national averages.
• Too many pupils leave without the skills needed for the next stage of education, employment or training.
• Teaching is not consistently implemented across the curriculum, leaving insecure knowledge in some subjects.
• Improvements to teaching and checks on what pupils know and remember are not yet embedded in all subjects.
• Curriculum improvements have not yet produced a positive trend in achievement.
• Handwriting and oracy provision is less developed than reading and numeracy support.
• Tracking of participation in personal development needs refinement across all phases.
• Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8 remains below national averages, even though other disadvantaged outcomes are closer.

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 Mary's Catholic Academy attended 92.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.5% 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, 3.5% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 9 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 Mary's Catholic Academy had 15.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.8% 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, 11.5% of pupils at St Mary's Catholic Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.4% 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 Mary's Catholic Academy received £8,841 and spent £8,849 for each of its 1,191 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £138,000 (£116 per pupil).

Across all 17 schools of The Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,639 and spending £7,702 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 Blackpool · Blackpool local authority: places and applications

St Mary's Catholic Academy is part of The Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 20 schools. The nearest others:

• Christ The King Catholic Academy Blackpool
• St Kentigern's Catholic Primary School Blackpool
• Holy Family Catholic Primary School Blackpool
• St John Vianney's Catholic Primary School, Blackpool Blackpool
• St. Bernadette's Catholic Primary School Blackpool
• St Cuthbert's Catholic Academy Blackpool
• St John's Catholic Primary School, Poulton-Le-Fylde Poulton-Le-Fylde
• Our Lady of The Assumption Catholic Primary School, Blackpool Blackpool
• St Teresa's Catholic Primary School Thornton-Cleveleys
• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Thornton Cleveleys Thornton-Cleveleys

What is St Mary's Catholic Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mary's Catholic Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was St Mary's Catholic Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mary's Catholic Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does St Mary's Catholic Academy have?

St Mary's Catholic Academy has 1,188 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mary's Catholic Academy cover?

St Mary's Catholic Academy for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Mary's Catholic Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 44.2, and 39% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Mary's Catholic Academy?

St Mary's Catholic Academy is at St Walburga's Road, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY3 7EQ.