St Benedict's Catholic School
St Benedict's Catholic School is an academy converter in Bury St Edmunds for pupils aged 11 to 18. It has a Roman Catholic religious character. It has 968 pupils on roll. The latest Ofsted rating for St Benedict's Catholic School is Good, from an inspection in April 2022 of its predecessor, St Benedict's Catholic School. In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 51.9, and 50% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.
Ofsted inspection: June 2025. GCSE results: 2026. A-level results: 2025.
| Type | Secondary / Academy converter |
| Age Range | 11-18 |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Address | Beetons Way Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP32 6RH |
| Phone | 01284753512 |
| Reference Number | 149285 |
General Makeup
| Number of pupils | 968 |
| Boy/Girl ratio |
Boys: 49.07%
Girls: 50.93% |
| Percentage of students eligible for free school meals | 11.6% |
| Percentage of students where English is not their first language | 23.5% |
Class Sizes
| Average size of one teacher classes | 22.6 |
Year Groups
| Year | Boys | Girls | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 83 | 91 | 174 |
| 8 | 100 | 74 | 174 |
| 9 | 77 | 84 | 161 |
| 10 | 77 | 86 | 163 |
| 11 | 71 | 83 | 154 |
| 12 | 35 | 46 | 81 |
| 13 | 32 | 29 | 61 |
Ethnicities
| Ethnicity | Percentage |
|---|---|
| White, British | 58.1% |
| White, Other | 19.1% |
| Mixed, Other | 4.5% |
| Indian | 4% |
| Asian, Other | 2.6% |
| African | 2% |
| Unclassified | 1.7% |
| White & Asian | 1.3% |
| White & Black (African) | 1.3% |
| Irish | 0.8% |
| White & Black (Caribbean) | 0.6% |
| Chinese | 0.1% |
| Caribbean | 0.1% |
| Pakistani | 0.1% |
This school has not been graded since it changed URN, usually on converting to an academy. The rating shown is from its predecessor, St Benedict's Catholic School, inspected in April 2022.
| Overall Ofsted Rating | Good |
| Last Report Date | 03 Jun 2025 – no overall grade published for this inspection |
| Date | Report |
|---|---|
| 03 Jun 2025 | School inspection |
| 08 Sep 2022 | Academy conversion letter |
Attainment 8 Score
Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:
- English
- Maths
- 3 subjects from qualifications that count towards the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), like sciences, language and history
- 3 more GCSE qualifications (including EBacc subjects) or technical awards from a list approved by the Department for Education
Each grade a pupil gets is assigned a point score from 9 (the highest) to 1 (the lowest). These scores are added up, with English and maths counted twice.
| School Score | Percentile (local) | Percentile (nationwide) |
|---|---|---|
| 51.9 | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
GCSE Results
| Metric | School Score | Percentile (local) | Percentile (nationwide) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 50% | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| 5 or more GCSEs at grade 9-4 (or A-C) | 72.7% | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
Attainment 8 Score
Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:
Sample
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Sample
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| Points | Percentile (local) | Percentile (nationwide) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Points | 35.93 | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Average Points (best 3) | 35.73 | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
Grades
| School | Local | Nationwide | |
| Average Grade | B- | C+ | C+ |
| Average Grade (best 3) | B- | C+ | C+ |
| Percentage | Percentile (local) | Percentile (nationwide) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Students getting AAB or better | 14.7% | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
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See how St Benedict's Catholic School ranks locally and nationally. Percentile rankings against every other school, historic result charts, admissions data and post-GCSE destinations are all included.
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Unlock for £9.99Year 7 admissions, 2026 entry
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| Number of Applications | Number of Offers | |
| First Preference | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Second Preference | 120 | 2 |
| Third Preference | 60 | 0 |
| From another Local Authority | 44 | 14 |
Previous years
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In 2024–25 St Benedict's Catholic School had 970 pupils for 990 places. 20 places (2.0%) were unfilled.
Pupils and places
Year 7 intake in the “Bury St Edmunds Secondary” planning area
Suffolk counted 642 Year 7 pupils in this area in 2024–25 and forecasts 666 in 2031–32, up 4%.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Places | 990 | 990 | 990 |
| Pupils | 950 | 969 | 970 |
| Unfilled | 4.0% | 2.1% | 2.0% |
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.
Destinations after GCSE's
| Staying in Education | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| > Further Education | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| > School Sixth Form | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| > Sixth Form College | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| > Other Education | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Apprenticeships | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Employment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Not in education or employment | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
| Unknown | Locked: unlock for £9.99, one-off payment |
In 2024–25 pupils at St Benedict's Catholic School attended 92.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 17.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).
Sessions missed
Pupils persistently absent
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authorised absence | 5.8% | 5.9% | 5.5% |
| Unauthorised absence | 2.8% | 2.4% | 1.7% |
| Severely absent pupils | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2.8% |
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, 3.8% of pupils at St Benedict's Catholic School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 pupils were permanently excluded.
Pupils suspended at least once
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspensions per 100 pupils | 5.5 | 10.5 | 13.1 | 6.5 |
| Permanent exclusions | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
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 Benedict's Catholic School had 15.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).
Pupils per teacher
Teachers who left the school within a year
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils per adult | 12.2 | 12.1 | 12.7 | 12.5 |
| Teachers who left state teaching | 8.3% | 8.6% | 2.5% | – |
| Teachers who took any sick leave | 82.9% | 77.8% | 75.7% | – |
| Sick days per teacher | 5.5 | 5.0 | 4.2 | – |
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, 14.3% of pupils at St Benedict's Catholic School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).
Pupils by main type of need
| SEN support | EHC plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Specific learning difficulty | 46 | 2 |
| Social, emotional and mental health | 34 | 9 |
| Autistic spectrum disorder | 16 | 9 |
| Speech, language and communication needs | 16 | 8 |
| Moderate learning difficulty | 7 | 2 |
| Other difficulty or disability | 8 | 1 |
| Physical disability | 3 | 2 |
| Hearing impairment | 3 | 1 |
| Multi-sensory impairment | 2 | 1 |
| No specialist assessment of need | 1 | 0 |
| Severe learning difficulty | 1 | 0 |
| Vision impairment | 1 | 0 |
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 Benedict's Catholic School received £7,384 and spent £7,286 for each of its 976 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £939,000 (£962 per pupil).
Across all 8 schools of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,225 and spending £7,189 per pupil.
Income per pupil
Spending per pupil
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue reserve | £1,165,000 | £1,381,000 | £939,000 |
| per pupil | £1,226 | £1,415 | £962 |
| In-year balance | £337,000 | £190,000 | £96,000 |
| per pupil | £354 | £195 | £98 |
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.
| Name | Distance |
|
Tollgate Primary School
Tollgate Lane, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6DG |
0.17 miles |
|
Howard Community Academy
Beard Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6SA |
0.49 miles |
|
St Edmundsbury CofE Primary Academy
Grove Road, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3BJ |
0.6 miles |
|
Sexton's Manor Primary School
Greene Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3HG |
0.89 miles |
|
Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery
Brooklands Close, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3JX |
1.26 miles |
|
Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary School
Bridewell Lane, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1RE |
1.28 miles |
|
St Edmund's Catholic Primary School
Westgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1QG |
1.32 miles |
|
Sebert Wood Community Primary School
Sebert Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7EG |
1.89 miles |
|
Hardwick Primary School
Steward Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 2PW |
1.94 miles |
|
South Lee School
Nowton Road, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2BT |
2.24 miles |
|
Abbots Green Primary Academy
Airfield Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7PJ |
2.26 miles |
|
Ickworth Park Primary School
Meadow Drive, Horringer, Meadow Drive, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP29 5SB |
2.76 miles |
|
Risby Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Aylmer Close, Risby, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 6RT |
2.94 miles |
|
Great Barton Church of England Primary Academy
School Road, Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP31 2RJ |
3.04 miles |
|
Pushforward Primary School
The Stable Barn, Blackthorpe, Blackthorpe, Bury St Edmunds, Rougham, Suffolk, IP30 9HZ |
3.66 miles |
|
Great Whelnetham Church of England Primary School
Stanningfield Road, Great Whelnetham, Bury St. Edmunds, IP30 0UA |
4.48 miles |
|
Rougham Church of England Primary School
Church Road, Rougham, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 9JJ |
4.6 miles |
| Name | Distance |
|
Bury St Edmunds County High School
Beetons Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6RF |
0.11 miles |
|
Abbey Gardens School
Beard Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6SA |
0.45 miles |
|
King Edward VI CEVC School
Grove Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3BH |
0.51 miles |
|
West Suffolk College
Out Risbygate, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3RL |
0.63 miles |
|
Abbeygate Sixth Form College
Beetons Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3YU |
0.68 miles |
|
Priory School
Mount Road, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7BH |
1.29 miles |
|
Learning Support, Western Area Education Office
New Shire Hall, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2AR |
1.46 miles |
|
Sir Peter Hall School
Airfield Road, Bury St. Edmunds, IP32 7PJ |
2.28 miles |
|
Riverwalk School
Mayfield Road, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 2PD |
2.39 miles |
|
Sybil Andrews Academy
Rougham Tower Avenue, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7QB |
2.59 miles |
|
Culford School
|
3.05 miles |
|
Thurston Community College
Norton Road, Thurston, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP31 3PB |
4.56 miles |
All schools in Bury St Edmunds · Suffolk local authority: places and applications
St Benedict's Catholic School is part of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:
- St Edmund's Catholic Primary School Bury St Edmunds
- St Louis Catholic Academy Newmarket
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Sudbury
- St Felix Roman Catholic Primary School, Haverhill Haverhill
- St Pancras Catholic Primary School Ipswich
- St Mark's Catholic Primary School Ipswich
- St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Ipswich Ipswich
- St Alban's Catholic Primary School Cambridge
- St Laurence Catholic Primary School Cambridge
- St Alban's Catholic High School Ipswich
What is St Benedict's Catholic School's Ofsted rating?
The latest Ofsted rating for St Benedict's Catholic School is Good, from an inspection in April 2022 of its predecessor, St Benedict's Catholic School.
When was St Benedict's Catholic School last inspected by Ofsted?
St Benedict's Catholic School was last inspected in June 2025.
How many pupils does St Benedict's Catholic School have?
St Benedict's Catholic School has 968 pupils on roll.
What age range does St Benedict's Catholic School cover?
St Benedict's Catholic School for pupils aged 11 to 18.
What are St Benedict's Catholic School's GCSE results?
In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 51.9, and 50% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.
Where is St Benedict's Catholic School?
St Benedict's Catholic School is at Beetons Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6RH.