Local authority · North West
Sefton has 22 secondary schools in this dataset — 20 state-funded and 2 independent. 1 is selective, admitting on an entrance test; 7 have a religious character; 14 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.42 (below average) — 0.41 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 18 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -2.60 to +0.19. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.93 first preferences per place — less pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 7 of the 18 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 10.4% 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 | Formby High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.19average | +0.23 to +0.632023–24 | 54.1 | 1.10× | Good |
| 2 | Greenbank High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.14average | -0.15 to +0.232023–24 | 51.6 | 1.03× | Good |
| 3 | Birkdale High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.10average | +0.02 to +0.432023–24 | 52.2 | 0.99× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 4 | Chesterfield High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.06average | -0.18 to +0.202023–24 | 47.4 | 1.07× | Good (ungraded) |
| 5 | Range High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.12average | -0.35 to +0.052023–24 | 50.4 | 0.88× | Good |
| 6 | Holy Family Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.17average | -0.44 to +0.012023–24 | 47.3 | 1.70× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 7 | Meols Cop High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.17average | -0.39 to +0.042023–24 | 41.1 | 1.18× | Good |
| 8 | Christ The King Catholic High School and Sixth Form CentreVoluntary aided school | -0.36below average | -0.89 to -0.352023–24 | 43.8 | 0.86× | Good |
| 9 | Hillside High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.36below average | -0.74 to -0.202023–24 | 39.9 | 1.49× | Good |
| 10 | Stanley High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.49below average | -0.95 to -0.472023–24 | 41.9 | 0.88× | — |
| 11 | King's Leadership Academy HawthornesFree schools | -0.52well below average | -0.87 to -0.282023–24 | 34.2 | 0.78× | Good |
| 12 | Litherland High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.55well below average | -0.92 to -0.442023–24 | 39.8 | 0.98× | Good |
| 13 | Deyes High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.58well below average | -0.82 to -0.452023–24 | 46.6 | 0.80× | — |
| 14 | Maricourt Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.59well below average | -0.77 to -0.392023–24 | 43.1 | 0.66× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 15 | Sacred Heart Catholic AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.66well below average | -0.96 to -0.532023–24 | 40.2 | 0.62× | — |
| 16 | Maghull High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.70well below average | -1.06 to -0.672023–24 | 42.0 | 1.13× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 17 | The Salesian Academy of St John BoscoAcademy sponsor led | -1.00well below average | -1.31 to -0.692023–24 | 31.1 | 0.74× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 18 | Hugh Baird CollegeFurther education | -2.60well below average | -2.83 to -2.232022–23 | 13.2 | — | — |
2 of the 17 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Formby 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. 5 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Merchant Taylors' Schools | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| Southport Education Group | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| St Michaels Church of England Academy | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| St. Mary's College | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Sefton for 2026 entry was Holy Family Catholic High School at 1.70 first preferences per place — 250 families named it first for 147 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 Sefton 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 Sefton you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.