Launchpad Centre
Launchpad Centre is a pupil referral unit in St Helens for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 66 pupils. About 74 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2022.
College Street, St Helens, WA10 1UH01744 412850alternativeprovision.st-helens.sch.ukMr Michael Power head of alternative provisionAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 23 June 2022 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to St. Helens council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (59), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), Other difficulty or disability (1), Specific learning difficulty (1), language and communications needs (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 66 | 72 | 68 | 44 | 33 | 33 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 74% | 68% | 65% | 57% | 52% | 24% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 88% | 90% | 86% | 91% | 88% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 13% | 10% | 14% | 9% | 12% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 21 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 33% | 31% | 58% |
| Education | 29% | 31% | 53% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| Not in education, work or training | 38% | 62% | 37% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This Is My Education - TIME | Independent (grammar) | 110 m | 14 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Holy Cross Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 350 m | 197 | Report card 2026 | 16 | Compare |
| Parish Church of England Primary School, St Helens | Academy | 380 m | 229 | Report card 2026 | 71 | Compare |
| St Mary & St Thomas CofE Primary School | Academy | 480 m | 230 | Not inspected | 88 | Compare |
| St Helens College | Further education | 560 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Rivington Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 234 | Good 2024 | 29 | Compare |
| Queen's Park CofE/Urc Primary School | Church of England/United Reformed Church | 0.8 miles | 375 | Good 2023 | 70 | Compare |
| Merton Bank Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 193 | Requires improvement 2024 | 2 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Launchpad Centre a good school?
Launchpad Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in June 2022.
What is Launchpad Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Launchpad Centre good at its last full inspection on 23 June 2022. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How many pupils does Launchpad Centre have?
66 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- College Street, St Helens, WA10 1UH
- Telephone
- 01744 412850
- Website
- www.alternativeprovision.st-helens.sch.uk
- Head of Alternative Provision
- Mr Michael Power
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- St. Helens
- Ward
- St Helens Town Centre
- Constituency
- St Helens South and Whiston
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 1999
- URN
- 132033 · LAESTAB 3421101 · UKPRN 10025479
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.