Local authority · North West
Knowsley has 6 secondary schools in this dataset. 2 have a religious character; 1 has a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.82 (well below average) — 0.81 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 6 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -1.32 to -0.31. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.95 first preferences per place — less pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 3 of the 6 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 11.8% for the typical school here, above the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All Saints Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.31below average | -0.55 to -0.162023–24 | 42.9 | 1.34× | Good |
| 2 | Halewood AcademyAcademy converter | -0.57well below average | -0.66 to -0.282023–24 | 38.9 | 1.08× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 3 | Lord Derby AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.64well below average | -0.78 to -0.402023–24 | 37.5 | 1.31× | Good |
| 4 | The Prescot SchoolAcademy converter | -1.00well below average | -1.29 to -0.862023–24 | 33.8 | 0.65× | Requires improvement |
| 5 | Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -1.06well below average | -1.27 to -0.752023–24 | 33.5 | 0.38× | Requires improvement |
| 6 | Kirkby High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -1.32well below average | -1.84 to -1.432023–24 | 32.0 | 0.81× | Good |
2 of the 5 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps All Saints Catholic High School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding.
The most sought-after school in Knowsley for 2026 entry was All Saints Catholic High School at 1.34 first preferences per place — 269 families named it first for 201 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Knowsley on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Knowsley you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.