St John Bosco Arts College
Storrington Avenue, Croxteth, L11 9DQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Girls
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mr Darren Gidman
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Liverpool
- Constituency
- Liverpool Walton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,064
- Pupils on roll
- 1,086
- URN
- 104715
- Local authority
- Liverpool
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01513305142
About this school
St John Bosco Arts College is a Roman Catholic girls' voluntary aided secondary school in Croxteth. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,086 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 169 | 169 | 169 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.8 | 39.7 | 39.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.40 -0.62 to -0.18 | -0.47 -0.69 to -0.25 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28% | 29% | 19.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 50% | 45.6% | 44.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 72% | 78.1% | 75.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How St John Bosco Arts College has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Liverpool average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.8 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.7 | 35.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.4 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,072 |
| 2023/24 | 1,063 |
| 2024/25 | 1,051 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St John Bosco Arts College compares
St John Bosco Arts College ranked 18th of 29 secondary schools in Liverpool for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.4 | 9.7% | 49.3% | 1,086 | — |
| Dixons Croxteth Academy | 31.6 | 14% | 58% | 436 | 0.3 miles |
| Dixons Fazakerley Academy | 33.4 | 16.3% | 51.3% | 737 | 1.4 miles |
| Holly Lodge Girls' College | 47.2 | 10.9% | 54.1% | 1,016 | 1.6 miles |
| Kirkby High School | 31.4 | 12.9% | 61.2% | 1,042 | 1.7 miles |
| Archbishop Beck Catholic College | 41.5 | 9.2% | 37.9% | 1,142 | 1.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report3 March 2026
- 7 December 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 49.27%
- English as an additional language
- 10%
- Overall absence
- 9.69%
- Persistent absence
- 26.56%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Dixons Croxteth Academy0.3 miles
Secondary · Liverpool
-
Dixons Fazakerley Academy1.4 miles
Secondary · Liverpool
-
Holly Lodge Girls' College1.6 miles
Secondary · Liverpool
-
Kirkby High School1.7 miles
Secondary · Liverpool
-
Archbishop Beck Catholic College1.8 miles
Secondary · Liverpool
Common questions
- What year groups does St John Bosco Arts College teach?
- St John Bosco Arts College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Croxteth.
- Who is the headteacher of St John Bosco Arts College?
- The headteacher of St John Bosco Arts College is Mr Darren Gidman, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was St John Bosco Arts College last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St John Bosco Arts College, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is St John Bosco Arts College?
- St John Bosco Arts College has 1,086 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is St John Bosco Arts College full?
- St John Bosco Arts College has capacity for 1,064 pupils and 1,086 on roll (102%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St John Bosco Arts College a faith school?
- Yes. St John Bosco Arts College is designated Roman Catholic, in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
- Is St John Bosco Arts College a selective school?
- No. St John Bosco Arts College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have St John Bosco Arts College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.8 in 2022/23 and 39.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St John Bosco Arts College rank locally?
- St John Bosco Arts College ranked 18th of 29 secondary schools in Liverpool for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St John Bosco Arts College's absence rate?
- St John Bosco Arts College's overall absence rate is 9.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St John Bosco Arts College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St John Bosco Arts College's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 7 July 2026.