Sacred Heart Catholic Academy Review 2026: A Catholic 11–18 academy with a clear improvement story

Ambition sits at the centre of this Crosby secondary, but it is framed through Catholic values rather than a narrow results narrative. The academy is part of Pope Francis Catholic Multi Academy Trust and has been working through a period of renewal since its predecessor school was judged Inadequate in October 2021.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (15 October 2024) graded each key area as Requires Improvement, signalling progress but also highlighting that the curriculum is not yet delivered consistently well across subjects. Parents weighing the school should read that as a practical message: expectations and systems are stronger than they were, but classroom consistency and attendance still matter, especially for pupils who need routine and steady teaching.

Beyond lessons, the school has leaned into enrichment with a busy programme of trips and clubs. The extra curricular timetable includes a mix of intervention support, sport, music and faith-led activities, which will suit pupils who benefit from structure and guided opportunities to build confidence.

The school’s public-facing language is direct about what it is trying to build: a community shaped by Love, Respect, Service and Ambition. Those values show up in practical ways, including a strong emphasis on personal development, leadership opportunities and encouragement to contribute to the wider community.

The tone from leadership is also explicit about high expectations for behaviour for learning. The academy describes consistent policies designed to support those standards, and the latest external picture supports the sense that behaviour has tightened and routines are clearer than in the past. Pupils are described as generally behaving well in lessons and around school, with a consistent approach to managing incidents.

A key cultural feature is the blend of Catholic life and modern adolescent realities. Pupils are given a lot of structured space for prayer, liturgy and chaplaincy activity, but the school also foregrounds practical preparation for life after Year 11 and Year 13 through careers education, employer encounters and trips linked to culture and aspiration.

There is evidence of a school actively listening to pupils about what they want beyond the classroom. The inspection record states that pupils were asked for suggestions on clubs, and that this helped expand opportunities across sport, music and cultural activities.

This is not currently a results-led story, and the data supports that. At GCSE, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 38.4, and Progress 8 is -0.74, which indicates that pupils, on average, make below-average progress from their starting points compared with pupils nationally. (FindMySchool rankings and metrics based on official data.)

The FindMySchool GCSE ranking places the academy 3,235th in England, and 34th in Liverpool for GCSE outcomes. (FindMySchool ranking based on official data.)

The EBacc picture is also challenging: 6.8% of pupils achieved grades 5 or above in the EBacc, and the school’s EBacc average point score is 3.26. (FindMySchool metrics based on official data.)

At A-level, outcomes sit in a similar band. A-level grades are recorded as 0% A*, 13.83% A, 17.02% B, and 30.85% A* to B. (FindMySchool metrics based on official data.) In England-wide terms, the FindMySchool A-level ranking places the school 2,123rd in England and 32nd in Liverpool. (FindMySchool ranking based on official data.)

The practical implication for families is straightforward. If your child is already self-motivated and responds well to structure and intervention support, there are pathways here to make strong progress. If they need consistently high-quality teaching across all subjects without gaps, you should probe carefully on how the renewed curriculum is being embedded in day-to-day classroom practice.

The most useful way to understand teaching here is as “improving, with variability”. The curriculum has been redesigned so that subject content is sequenced and the essential knowledge is set out clearly for staff, including in sixth form subjects. Teachers are described as having strong subject knowledge and, in many lessons, explaining content clearly while checking understanding.

Where the experience can be uneven is in delivery choices and checking for learning. Some lessons do not use the most suitable techniques for helping pupils understand key knowledge, and pupils can develop gaps when misconceptions are not identified early enough. That is a meaningful issue in a secondary school because it affects confidence and engagement, especially for pupils who do not have strong study habits at home.

Reading has become a priority and there are systems to identify specific gaps and address them. For pupils who arrive in Year 7 with weaker literacy, this focus can materially improve access to the wider curriculum, particularly in humanities and science where reading load increases quickly.

The subject mix signposted to families includes both academic and applied routes. Curriculum information highlights subjects such as Psychology, Criminology and Health and Social Care alongside the mainstream GCSE offer, which will suit pupils looking for a blend of pathways into post-16 study, apprenticeships and employment.

Where Students Go Next

The school does not publish a Russell Group percentage or a detailed Oxbridge pipeline. In practice, the best available overview is the DfE leaver destinations snapshot included for the 2023/24 cohort. In that cohort (75 students), 52% progressed to university, 4% to apprenticeships and 29% to employment.

The message for parents is that university progression is a realistic outcome for a substantial share of leavers, but this is also a school where employment and apprenticeships form a significant part of the post-18 picture. For some families, that is a strength, especially if they want a school that takes vocational and applied routes seriously rather than treating them as second-best.

To add colour, the school’s careers programme lists a wide range of previous providers engaging with pupils, spanning universities, employers, and uniformed services. Examples include Liverpool Football Club, Unilever, the RAF and Navy, local colleges, and universities such as Liverpool Hope, Edge Hill and Liverpool John Moores University.

Year 7 admissions are coordinated through Sefton Council rather than direct application to the school. The school states that applications for Year 7 places close on 31 October each year for the following September. For the September 2026 intake, Sefton’s published process confirms the national offer date as 02 March 2026.

Open evening activity tends to sit early in the autumn term. The school advertised an open evening on Thursday 25 September 2025 (4pm to 7pm) with headteacher talks scheduled at 5pm and 6pm, and booking via the school’s system. Families looking at a future intake should expect a similar pattern and should check the school website early in September for the latest booking details.

Because the published local admissions data for Year 7 demand is not included here, parents should treat competitiveness as something to verify directly through the local authority and the school’s published admissions policy. If you are comparing schools across Crosby and the wider Sefton area, the FindMySchoolMap Search is a practical way to plan travel times and day-to-day logistics before you shortlist.

Pastoral effectiveness at secondary level often comes down to whether pupils know who to go to, and whether staff follow up consistently. The inspection record describes a welcoming community where pupils know who to speak to if worried or upset, with staff focused on wellbeing and safety. The school’s safeguarding structure is made very visible to pupils through named roles (including a designated safeguarding lead and safeguarding governor), which tends to support early reporting and clearer routes to help.

Ofsted confirmed that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Attendance is the major wellbeing-linked risk area identified. The school has processes to understand and address absence, but a small group of pupils still do not attend regularly enough, which limits access to the strengthened curriculum. For families with a child who is attendance-anxious, it is worth asking direct questions about the attendance strategy, thresholds for intervention and how the pastoral team works with parents.

SEND support is also described in concrete terms. The school reports that 15% of students are listed as having SEND and that an on-site Study Support Hub provides a smaller, calmer space, alongside classroom support from learning support assistants where appropriate.

The enrichment offer is one of the more distinctive features of the current direction of travel. A busy programme of educational visits is explicitly tracked. During the 2023/24 academic year, the school reports that over 75 educational visits took place, ranging from local cultural trips to international travel. Examples listed include Auschwitz and Krakow, Lourdes, visits linked to football and community partners, theatre trips, geography fieldwork at Ainsdale, and university-facing experiences.

Clubs and structured support are also clearly mapped. The extra curricular timetable for Autumn 2024 includes, among others: Lego Club (Years 7 and 8), Chaplaincy, Chess Club, Eco Club, French games club, Drama club, Creative Writing, Bicycle maintenance club, music groups (Recorder club, Brass group, Woodwind group), football and netball, plus a range of GCSE intervention and homework support sessions across subjects. For many pupils, the implication is that the school day does not end with the final bell, there are planned routes for both enrichment and catch-up, which can make a tangible difference to confidence and attainment.

Partnership work is also explicit. Named partners include the Anthony Walker Foundation, Merseyside Police, the LFC Foundation, Liverpool Royal Court, and the knife crime education initiative kNOwmoreknives, alongside careers and education partners. That mix suggests a deliberate focus on character education, social responsibility, and practical preparation for adolescence.

The school publishes student opening times as 08:40 to 15:10, Monday to Friday. It also states that the core week totals 32.5 hours excluding extra curricular activities. Students enter and exit via the school gates on Endbutt Lane, which is useful for day-to-day drop-off planning.

A notable practical feature is the school bus trial, operated by Aintree Coachline, with capacity for 90 seats and priority stated for incoming Year 7 students and pupils identified as more vulnerable. The published annual ticket price is £390, with reduced cost for pupils in receipt of free school meals (up to 50% per month). The same page sets out a route with timed stops and indicates that free toast is available before lesson 1 begins at 08:40.

Term dates are published well in advance, including 2026/27, which supports planning for working families and childcare around inset days and half-term.

• Teaching consistency. The curriculum has been redesigned and is improving, but delivery is not consistently strong across all lessons. Pupils who need steady, predictable teaching in every subject may find this unevenness frustrating.

• Attendance risk. A small group of pupils do not attend regularly enough, and this is explicitly linked to weaker achievement. If attendance has been a challenge for your child in the past, you should probe how the school works with families and what early support looks like.

• Small sixth form. At the time of inspection, the sixth form roll was very small and all students were in Year 13, which can limit subject breadth and the wider sixth form experience. Ask about current Year 12 recruitment, subject blocks, and how viability is maintained year to year.

• Cost considerations despite no fees. This is a state school with no tuition fees, but practical costs can still add up, especially transport. If the bus trial is relevant to you, check how availability and priority are managed.

Sacred Heart Catholic Academy is best understood as a school on a steady improvement track, with stronger routines, clearer expectations and a widening offer of clubs, trips and partnerships. The headline performance measures remain below where families will want them to be, and classroom consistency is still a live issue, so it is not the simplest choice for pupils who rely on uniformly strong teaching to thrive.

Who it suits: families seeking a Catholic community with visible values, structured intervention support, and a broad enrichment offer, particularly where a child will engage with clubs, trips and guided study. For those families, the school can be a good fit, provided you go in with clear eyes on results and ask practical questions about subject delivery and attendance support.