St Catherine's School and College
St Catherine's School and College is a non-maintained special school in Ventnor for boys and girls aged 7 to 19. It has 94 pupils and every place is taken. About 38 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 2024.
Grove Road, Ventnor, PO38 1TT01983 852722stcatherines.org.ukMrs Sarah Thompson principalAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 30 January 2024 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.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
10 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Isle of Wight | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 4 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 5.0 | 1.1 | 3.1 | – | – | – | 42.5 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -1.45 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 38% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 60% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.23 | 0.05 | 0.26 | – | – | – | 3.65 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | – | – | 39% | 41% |
Subjects
Results came out for 1 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 7 | 14% | 14% | 29% | 54% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
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 Isle of Wight council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
What parents say
From Ofsted's Parent View survey: 12 parents answered in the year to 6 April 2026. Parents choose whether to fill it in, and many only do so when an inspection is coming, so don't read too much into small differences. The England figures are the average for all schools with enough answers to publish.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with speech, language and communication.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Isle of Wight with speech, language and communication provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (53), Autistic spectrum disorder (15), Moderate learning difficulty (13), emotional and mental health (4), Other difficulty or disability (3), Specific learning difficulty (3).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 94 | 89 | 93 | 92 | 79 | 71 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 34% | 34% | 30% | 32% | 30% | 31% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 98% | 98% | 99% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.3% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 4.7% | 7.7% | 7.5% | 13.2% | 18.0% | 8.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.6% | 5.1% | 5.5% | 10.9% | 17.1% | 6.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.2% | 2.6% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 0.9% | 2.2% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 10.8% | 20.6% | 22.8% | 37.7% | 59.6% | 29.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 4.5 | 16.1 | 13.0 | 2.5 | 8.5 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 9 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2016/17 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 100% | 100% | 100% | 83% |
| Education | 100% | 100% | 100% | 83% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 0% | 0% | 17% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Island Free School | Free school | 900 m | 613 | Good 2023 | 74 | Compare |
| St Francis Catholic and Church of England Primary Academy | Academy | 0.6 miles | 161 | Good 2021 | 23 | Compare |
| Wroxall Primary School | Council | 1.6 miles | 90 | No overall grade 2025 | 13 | Compare |
| St Blasius Shanklin CofE Primary Academy | Academy | 2.6 miles | 181 | Good 2023 | 21 | Compare |
| Gatten and Lake Primary School | Council | 3.4 miles | 195 | Good 2022 | 41 | Compare |
| Niton Primary School | Council | 3.4 miles | 194 | Good 2023 | 49 | Compare |
| Godshill Primary School | Council | 3.5 miles | 172 | Good 2023 | 17 | Compare |
| Broadlea Primary School | Council | 3.9 miles | 242 | Good 2021 | 8 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is St Catherine's School and College a good school?
St Catherine's School and College doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in January 2024.
What is St Catherine's School and College's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St Catherine's School and College good at its last full inspection on 30 January 2024.
How good are St Catherine's School and College's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 5.0, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does St Catherine's School and College have?
94 pupils aged 7 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 94 places, so it is 100% full.
What is attendance like at St Catherine's School and College?
Pupils were in school 95.3% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 11% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
What do parents say about St Catherine's School and College?
100% of the 12 parents who answered Ofsted's Parent View survey would recommend it to other parents, and 100% say their child is happy there. Across England, 84% of parents would recommend their child's school.
Does St Catherine's School and College have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for speech, language and communication. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does St Catherine's School and College have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Grove Road, Ventnor, PO38 1TT
- Telephone
- 01983 852722
- Website
- www.stcatherines.org.uk
- Principal
- Mrs Sarah Thompson
- Type of school
- Non-maintained special school (Non-maintained special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 7-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Isle of Wight
- Ward
- Ventnor & St Lawrence
- Constituency
- Isle of Wight East
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 118226 · LAESTAB 9217000 · UKPRN 10016972
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- 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.