Mount St Joseph RC High School a Voluntary Academy

About Mount St Joseph RC High School a Voluntary Academy

Mount St Joseph RC High School in Bolton is a mixed Roman Catholic secondary for pupils aged 11 to 16, currently educating 901 students. The school operates as a voluntary academy, and its religious character is a defining feature of its intake. While the data does not specify the school’s official capacity, the fact that it is oversubscribed in its admission information suggests strong local demand, particularly from Catholic families who prioritise a faith-based education. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is not provided in this dataset, so it is not possible to compare directly with the Bolton or national averages. However, the school’s Progress 8 banding is rated as ‘Average’, which indicates that its intake profile is broadly typical of the national cohort. The school’s position within Bolton’s 22 state secondaries is 15th by Progress 8 score, placing it in the lower half of the local authority.

Academically, Mount St Joseph’s most recent published outcomes are for the 2023/24 academic year. Its Progress 8 score of -0.12 is below the Bolton local authority average of 0.07, meaning pupils here make slightly less progress than their peers across the borough. The Attainment 8 score stands at 43.1, and 54.7% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, dropping to 38.5% at the stronger grade 5 threshold. The school’s EBacc average point score is 3.77, with 34.6% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. In English, Progress 8 is exactly zero, matching the national average, but maths is notably weaker at -0.39. The school ranks 14th out of 19 Bolton secondaries on the EBacc APS metric, and nationally it sits in the bottom 50% of schools by Progress 8, at the 58th percentile. Its most recent Ofsted rating is Requires Improvement, a grade that parents will want to weigh carefully.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including science labs, a swimming pool, astro turf, tennis courts, playing fields, a library, and a chapel. Sports provision is broad, with rowing, martial arts, hockey, and cricket among the options, and there is a healthy selection of clubs from gardening and chess to Young Enterprise and choir. The school does not have a sixth form, so all pupils must plan for post-16 transition elsewhere. For Catholic families in Bolton who value a faith-based environment and are comfortable with a school that is currently rated Requires Improvement, Mount St Joseph may still be a strong community fit, particularly given its oversubscribed status. Those prioritising academic outcomes may want to compare it with higher-ranked local options such as Bolton Muslim Girls School or Sharples School, or consider the nearest Outstanding school, Eden Boys’ School, 4.3 km away.

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