St Francis Xavier School - a Joint Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Academy

About St Francis Xavier School - a Joint Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Academy

St Francis Xavier School is a secondary state school in North Yorkshire that is currently oversubscribed by a considerable margin. For its 117 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, the school received 279 total applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.38. Of those, 122 were first-preference applications, and 114 first-preference offers were made. The school has a published capacity of 570, but currently has 606 pupils on roll, meaning it is operating slightly above its official capacity. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 11.4%, which is below the national average for secondary schools. The school is a joint Roman Catholic and Church of England voluntary academy, and it serves pupils aged 11 to 16 with no sixth form. Its headteacher is J Prime.

Academically, St Francis Xavier is an exceptional performer. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2024, it received Outstanding grades across all four graded categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This continues a pattern of excellence, as its previous inspection in 2012 also rated the school Outstanding overall. Its Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year is 1.01, which is well above average and ranks it first out of 39 schools in North Yorkshire, and first out of 306 schools in Yorkshire and the Humber. Nationally, it sits at 76th out of 3,141 schools. The local authority average Progress 8 score is just 0.07, so this school is performing dramatically above its peers. Its Attainment 8 score is 56.4, and 84.3% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths. The EBacc average point score is 5.03, with 51.3% of pupils entering the EBacc combination.

The school offers a strong range of facilities including a gymnasium, swimming pool, sports hall, theatre, library, science labs, art studios, and a chapel. Sports on offer include rowing, cross country, hockey, cricket, and tennis, while clubs include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Model UN, Young Enterprise, and an eco club. The school has a wide range of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses from 162 respondents show strong satisfaction: 89% would recommend the school, and 91% agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy. This is a school that suits families looking for high academic standards within a faith-based setting, and who are prepared for a competitive admissions process given its oversubscribed status.

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