St Cuthbert's Catholic High School Review 2026: Catholic secondary in Sutton, St Helens

On Berrys Lane in Sutton, the day has a clear run-up: students arrive between 8.15 and 8.30am, registration begins at 8.30am, and lessons run through to 3.00pm. That opening half-hour includes Literacy, PD Bitesize or Collective Sacred Time, a small but telling detail that frames the school’s priorities before Period 1 even starts.

St Cuthbert's Catholic High School is a state secondary school for boys and girls aged 11 to 16 in St. Helens, Merseyside. It is a non-selective, Catholic voluntary aided school, with a published capacity of 920 students. The most recent Ofsted inspection rated the school Good.

For families, the headline is balance: a faith-rooted culture and a structured day, combined with an explicit focus on pastoral support, including named bases for wellbeing and behaviour. The question to answer early is fit, not just reputation: does your child respond well to clear routines, strong values, and an 11 to 16 journey that puts transition and personal development front and centre?

The phrase you will see repeatedly is “Live life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). It is not used as decoration. The school’s stated values, Courage, Commitment, Compassion and Community, give staff and students a shared shorthand for what good choices look like when no one is reading from a script.

There is also a strong sense of continuity. St Cuthbert’s opened in 1957, and its history foregrounds the part local parishes played in creating the school. That matters because the Catholic identity here is not a bolt-on; it is the organising principle, with liturgy, prayer, retreats, and named celebrations such as St Cuthbert’s Day woven into the year.

At the same time, the tone is deliberately inclusive. Students are expected to respect difference, and the school positions itself as serving a broad community. The best indicator is how it describes support: calm spaces, mentors and specialist counselling are part of the everyday picture, not a discreet service for a small minority. If your child values being known and checked in on, that can be a genuine strength. If they prefer maximum independence with minimal adult involvement, the pastoral visibility may feel like a lot.

GCSE results

Ranked 3653rd in England and 6th in St. Helens for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), St Cuthbert’s sits below England average overall on this measure. The local context matters, though: being 6th in St. Helens suggests it is not an outlier locally, even if the national picture is challenging.

On the most recently published data in this profile, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 34.1. Progress 8 is -1.11, which indicates students, on average, made less progress from their starting points than similar pupils nationally.

EBacc and curriculum emphasis

The EBacc detail is also important. The average EBacc APS score is 2.73, compared with an England average of 4.08. Meanwhile, 2.8% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure. Those figures point families towards the most practical questions for an open evening: how many students are entered for the EBacc subjects at Key Stage 4, which subjects carry the strongest outcomes, and what targeted support looks like for pupils who arrive behind in literacy.

If you are comparing outcomes across local schools, FindMySchool’s comparison tool is useful here because it lets you line up Attainment 8 and Progress 8 side by side rather than relying on a single headline.

The curriculum is described as coherent and well ordered from Year 7 through to Year 11, with clear sequencing of what is taught and when. That is a strong foundation for consistency, especially for students who do best when lessons build in a logical, cumulative way.

Reading is treated as a priority rather than an assumption. Students who need extra help are identified and supported, and the school frames this as part of learning, not a remedial label. The daily structure reinforces the point: the day begins with a purposeful registration slot that can include literacy and personal development content, setting expectations early.

There is also a candid improvement edge. Some subjects have work to do on how assessment spots gaps and misconceptions quickly enough, because when it is slow, students can carry misunderstandings forward. For parents, this is less about jargon and more about a simple reality: ask how teachers check learning in class, how quickly support is put in place, and how the school keeps pupils who wobble in one unit from losing confidence in the whole subject.

With education running to Year 11, the next step is a post-16 move into sixth form, college, or training. Careers education and guidance is described as a strength, with work experience built into the student journey. That matters in an 11 to 16 setting, because students need to make decisions earlier and with more support than they might in a school with its own sixth form.

For many families in St. Helens, the practical shortlist includes local sixth forms and colleges, as well as specialist routes for apprenticeships. The best schools do two things well here: they make academic pathways feel achievable for students who have never imagined them, and they make technical or vocational routes feel respected rather than second best.

A good question to ask is how the school supports different destinations with equal seriousness. University is not the only measure of success at 16, and an effective 11 to 16 school should be able to talk confidently about a range of next steps.

Routes and criteria

Admissions are coordinated through St Helens Council, but St Cuthbert’s is its own admissions authority as a voluntary aided Catholic school. In plain terms, that means the local process sits alongside a school admissions policy that prioritises applicants by faith and family connection when demand exceeds places.

The oversubscription criteria place baptised Catholic children first (with additional priority for siblings and for children connected to named local parishes), then consider other Catholic applicants, siblings, feeder primaries, other Christian denominations, other faiths, and finally other children. Where places are allocated by distance, it is measured in a straight line using the local authority’s GIS system.

The published admission number for the September 2026 intake is 184. Families considering an application should expect evidence requirements where faith criteria apply, including proof of baptism where relevant.

Timeline and practicalities

Demand is real. The most recent admissions demand data in this profile shows 293 applications for 161 offers, around 1.82 applications per place, so entry is not casual.

St Helens’ secondary transfer process follows the familiar rhythm: applications open in early September, close in late October, and offers are sent in early March. The school also runs an open evening in September, with on-site parking and step-free access flagged for visitors. If you are weighing travel alongside admissions criteria, FindMySchool Map Search can help you sanity-check the journey from your front door, then you can layer that against the school’s faith priorities and your realistic likelihood of entry.

The pastoral story is unusually specific because it is named and structured. The Farne Centre is described as the school’s pastoral base, with a focus on mental health support and targeted help for students who find attendance emotionally difficult, alongside support for young carers and social communication needs. That kind of clarity can be reassuring: it signals that wellbeing is organised, staffed and expected to be used when necessary.

Behaviour support is also formalised. The Melrose Centre sits as an inclusion base for pupils who cannot access mainstream lessons for periods of time, or who need a different environment to reset and learn strategies for managing behaviour. The advantage for families is predictability: when a student struggles, the response is not improvised, it is channelled into a defined pathway.

Bullying is treated as a serious issue and is expected to be resolved quickly. Calm spaces, mentors and access to specialist counselling add a second layer: you are not relying on one form tutor carrying the whole emotional load. For some children, that makes school feel safer. For others, it can feel like a lot of adult visibility. The best way to judge is to ask how students move back from the Melrose pathway into full lessons, and how the Farne team works with families when attendance becomes fragile.

Clubs & enrichment

The extracurricular picture includes everyday clubs alongside purposeful student leadership. Sports and creative options mentioned include basketball, football, film and art clubs. There is also a sustainability group that has worked with local organisations on homelessness and reducing waste, a practical expression of the school’s values rather than a badge to put on a website.

Student leadership is structured in layers. A Student Council brings together representatives from Years 7 to 10, supporting the Year 11 Senior Team, with committees that touch everything from environment and events to teaching and learning, wellbeing and Catholic life. If your child likes agency and clear roles, this can be a strong fit.

Catholic life and service

Catholic life is not confined to Religious Education. The calendar includes St Cuthbert’s Day, an annual Mission Day with outside speakers and a whole-school Mass, and a retreat programme that starts early in a student’s journey. A Year 7 retreat day is part of transition, and there is a longer residential retreat at Savio House for Year 8, with approximately 80 students taking part each year.

Older students have opportunities that connect faith with the wider world, including pilgrimage experiences and volunteering. It is a Catholic school that expects service to show up in action, not just assemblies.

The school day

The school day runs from an arrival window of 8.15 to 8.30am, with registration at 8.30am and lessons finishing at 3.00pm. The structure includes five lesson periods, a morning break, and a lunch break, with registration time also used for literacy and personal development content.

Travel and buses

Travel information is unusually detailed. The school lists supported bus services for 2025 to 2026, currently operated by Stagecoach, including routes numbered 719 and 720 serving different parts of the local area. For families who cannot drive daily, that level of clarity can make the school more realistic as a choice, especially when after-school commitments extend the day.

Faith priority in admissions: This is a Catholic voluntary aided school, and the admissions policy prioritises baptised Catholic applicants in a structured way, including parish connections and siblings. Families who value Catholic life will see that as a positive. Families without a faith connection should apply with clear eyes about the order of priority.

Competition for places: With 293 applications for 161 offers (around 1.82 applications per place), securing entry can be difficult. It is worth planning a second and third preference that you would still be happy with, rather than treating St Cuthbert’s as a certainty.

Outcomes and pace of progress: Progress 8 of -1.11 and Attainment 8 of 34.1 indicate that outcomes, overall, are a challenge on this dataset. Some students will still do very well here, but families should ask detailed questions about subject-level support, literacy catch-up, and how the school responds when a child falls behind mid-year.

Pastoral visibility: The Farne Centre and the Melrose Centre show a school that takes wellbeing and behaviour seriously, with named pathways and specialist support. For many children that will feel containing and safe. If your child resists adult oversight, you will want to understand how independence is taught alongside support.

St Cuthbert’s is a Catholic 11 to 16 school with a structured day, explicit values, and pastoral systems that are named and clearly organised. It suits families who want faith to be part of the week, who value calm spaces and specialist support, and who like the clarity of a school that takes routines seriously from the first bell.

The limiting factor is admission rather than what follows. Demand exceeds offers, and families should treat the application as competitive while also engaging closely with how the school is raising academic progress across subjects.