St Benedict's Catholic School

Academy converter·Secondary school Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk·IP32 6RH
Composite score
62.2
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#942
National rank
#95
In East of England
#4
In Suffolk
Top 30%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
49.8
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
50%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
72%
% EBacc grade 5+
22%
EBacc average points score
4.60

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
69%
239 first choices, 167 places
First choices per place
1.43
more first choices than places
Applications naming the school
419
any preference, for 167 places
Last place offered lived
9.22 mi
straight line, 2025 intake · 14845 m
Applications from another council area
10%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.02
00.511.52
1 per place
n/a20221.0220231.1720241.4520251.432026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

The cut-off distance is how far the last child offered a place lived, not a catchment boundary: it moves every year with the number of applicants, and in 2025 the last place went under “Priority Group 8 – children of other Christian denominations, distance”. Published by the council in its 2025 allocation figures, and checked against that document before we show it.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
976
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
12.7%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
24.3%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
14.0%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.7%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
8.2%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
25.2%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.3
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£6,994
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
95%
146 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
92%
Apprenticeship
1%
Employment
1%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

About St Benedict's Catholic School

St Benedict's Catholic School is a secondary school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, classified by the DfE as a converter academy with a Roman Catholic religious character. Around 976 pupils aged 11 to 18 attend the school. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 49.8 — above the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has fallen by 1.3 points compared with the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the top 30% of secondary schools nationally.

50% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, above the national average of about 45%. 72% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. St Benedict's Catholic School is oversubscribed: about 7 in 10 of the families who made it their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, with 239 first choices for 167 places. In 2025 the furthest child offered a place lived 9.22 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, 95% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 8.2%. There are about 16.3 pupils per teacher. St Benedict's Catholic School 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.

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