Cowley International College
Hard Lane, St Helens, WA10 6PN
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Principal
- Mr Russell Cormack
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- St Helens North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,620
- Pupils on roll
- 1,514
- URN
- 104829
- Local authority
- St. Helens
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01744678030
About this school
Cowley International College is a community secondary school in St Helens. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,514 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Cowley International College, and its latest judgement is set out 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
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 245 | 244 | 240 |
| Attainment 8 score | 39.9 | 41.7 | 39.3 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.77 -0.95 to -0.59 | -0.69 -0.87 to -0.51 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 27% | 29.1% | 30.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 50% | 53.7% | 48.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 46% | 54.9% | 53.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
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 Cowley International 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 | St. Helens average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 39.9 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 41.7 | 38.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.3 | 30.8 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 12.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,463 |
| 2023/24 | 1,481 |
| 2024/25 | 1,498 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Cowley International College compares
Cowley International College ranked 7th of 8 secondary schools in St. Helens 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 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.3 | 12.6% | 41.9% | 1,514 | — |
| De La Salle School | — | 9.3% | 24.8% | 1,180 | 1.1 miles |
| St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy | 42.6 | 8.9% | 48.7% | 549 | 1.8 miles |
| St Cuthbert's Catholic High School | 34.5 | 14.3% | 48.2% | 897 | 2.5 miles |
| The Sutton Academy | 43.1 | 10.2% | 40.4% | 1,441 | 2.8 miles |
| Outwood Academy Haydock | 41.2 | 8.9% | 39.4% | 791 | 3.0 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 41.91%
- English as an additional language
- 7.1%
- Overall absence
- 12.63%
- Persistent absence
- 30.1%
Location
Nearby schools
-
De La Salle School1.1 miles
Secondary · St. Helens
-
St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy1.8 miles
Secondary · St. Helens
-
St Cuthbert's Catholic High School2.5 miles
Secondary · St Helens
-
The Sutton Academy2.8 miles
Secondary · St Helens
-
Outwood Academy Haydock3.0 miles
Secondary · St. Helens
Other schools in St Helens
- Rainford High School Secondary
- St Cuthbert's Catholic High School Secondary
- The Sutton Academy Secondary
- Ashurst Primary School Primary
- Bleak Hill Primary School Primary
- Broad Oak Community Primary School Primary
- Carr Mill Primary School Primary
- Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Primary
- Eaves Primary School Primary
- Eccleston Mere Primary School Primary
- Grange Valley Primary School Primary
- Holy Cross Catholic Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Cowley International College teach?
- Cowley International College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in St Helens.
- Who is the principal of Cowley International College?
- The principal of Cowley International College is Mr Russell Cormack, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Cowley International College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Cowley International 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 many pupils are at Cowley International College?
- Cowley International College has 1,514 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Cowley International College full?
- Cowley International College has capacity for 1,620 pupils and 1,514 on roll (93%), so it has space against 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 Cowley International College a faith school?
- No. Cowley International College has no designated religious character.
- Is Cowley International College a selective school?
- No. Cowley International College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Cowley International College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 39.9 in 2022/23 and 39.3 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Cowley International College compare with other schools in St. Helens?
- Cowley International College ranked 7th of 8 secondary schools in St. Helens 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 3% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Cowley International College's absence rate?
- Cowley International College's overall absence rate is 12.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Cowley International College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Cowley International 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 29 June 2026.