St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy

About St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy

St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School in Rochdale is a mixed state secondary for pupils aged 11 to 16, currently home to 1,057 students against a capacity of 1,200. That leaves some physical room to grow, but demand tells a different story: for the 2025/26 intake, the school received 385 applications for 182 places, making it oversubscribed by a ratio of 2.12 to one. Of those applicants, 131 secured a first-preference offer. The school's intake is notably more disadvantaged than the national average, with 38.5 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals — well above the typical secondary figure. This context matters when interpreting its Ofsted rating. Under headteacher Emma Keenan, the school was graded Requires Improvement overall in its most recent graded inspection in March 2022, a rating it also held in its previous inspection in 2019. The 2022 report noted that personal development was Good, but behaviour and attitudes, quality of education, and leadership and management all required improvement.

Academically, the school operates without a sixth form, so its performance is measured at GCSE level. While the data doesn't include specific Progress 8 or attainment figures for St Cuthbert's itself, the local authority average Progress 8 score for Rochdale secondary schools is -0.25, which sits below the national average of zero. That places the LA in a lower-performing bracket nationally. The school's closest peers by ranking score include Hollingworth Academy (-0.02), Matthew Moss High School (-0.03), and Falinge Park High School (-0.03), all of which cluster close to the national baseline. St Cuthbert's own position relative to these isn't given, but the LA context suggests that families should look closely at published GCSE results when considering options. The Ofsted breakdown from 2022 flagged that quality of education and behaviour both need work, which may affect how well pupils progress through Key Stage 4. For a school serving a high-FSM population, these are challenging conditions, and the inspection report will be worth reading in full.

On the practical side, St Cuthbert's offers a solid range of facilities including science labs, a sports hall, swimming pool, art studios, ICT suite, gymnasium, and a chapel. Sports provision covers hockey, football, rowing, martial arts, cross country, and rugby, while extracurricular clubs include orchestra, drama, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, film club, choir, newspaper, debate, and book club. The school has a broad SEND offer, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes it a potentially strong fit for families whose children need additional support in a mainstream setting. The oversubscription figures suggest it's a popular choice locally, particularly among Catholic families in Rochdale, though the Requires Improvement rating means parents should weigh academic outcomes carefully against the school's pastoral and extracurricular strengths.

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