St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy

School overview

St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is a secondary school serving Stoke-on-Trent, classified by the DfE as a converter academy with a Roman Catholic religious character. It has 1,139 pupils aged 11 to 18 on roll. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 43.0 — broadly in line with the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has risen by 1.8 points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

40% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 64% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy is oversubscribed: about 9 in 10 of the families who made it their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, with 219 first choices for 209 places. In 2025 the furthest child offered a place lived 1.07 miles from the school in a straight line, according to the council's published allocation figures; the distance changes every year with demand. After Year 11, 92% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 8.1%. There are about 16.8 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 38% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.