St John Fisher Catholic High School

About St John Fisher Catholic High School

St John Fisher Catholic High School sits within Wigan local authority, a mixed 11-16 Roman Catholic secondary that ranks 16th out of 19 schools in the borough on Progress 8. That puts it in the bottom half of Wigan’s secondaries, well behind the top-performing local peers. The three highest-ranked schools in the LA are St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Atherton High School, and Golborne High School, all of which post positive or near-zero Progress 8 scores. St John Fisher’s own score of -0.58 places it below the Wigan average of -0.3, and the school sits in the bottom 50 nationally on this measure. It is a large school, with 994 pupils against a capacity of 1,000, and it serves a community where 32.2 per cent of students are eligible for free school meals — well above the national average. The school has no sixth form, so all pupils leave at 16.

In its most recent graded Ofsted inspection, from 2010, St John Fisher was rated Good overall, with leadership and management also judged Good. An ungraded inspection in 2021 confirmed the school remains Good. At Key Stage 4, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 42.2, and 54 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, dropping to 32.2 per cent at grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score is 3.4, but only 9.9 per cent of pupils entered the EBacc combination of subjects, and just 5.4 per cent achieved the full EBacc at grade 5 or above. Progress 8 is negative across the board: English -0.86, maths -0.63, the EBacc subjects -0.64, and open subjects -0.36. The school’s Progress 8 confidence interval ranges from -0.78 to -0.38, meaning the negative score is statistically significant. Compared with the Wigan LA average Progress 8 of -0.3, St John Fisher’s outcomes are notably weaker.

The school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 433 applications for 193 places, with 221 first-preference applications and 182 first-preference offers — an oversubscription ratio of 2.24. Facilities include a swimming pool, theatre, chapel, art studios, music rooms, and playing fields, and the sports programme covers rugby, hockey, cricket, athletics, dance, basketball, rounders, and martial arts. There is a wide range of clubs, from book club and debate to coding, chess, orchestra, and film club. The school’s SEND provision is extensive, covering specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate and severe learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families prioritising a Catholic secondary in Wigan with strong facilities and a broad extracurricular offer, St John Fisher is a popular local choice, though its academic outcomes are below the LA average and the school has no sixth form.

Key Details

Frequently Asked Questions About St John Fisher Catholic High School

Helpful Guides for Parents