Our Lady's Catholic College
Morecambe Road, Lancaster, LA1 2RX
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mrs Helen Seddon
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lancaster
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,148
- Pupils on roll
- 981
- URN
- 119798
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0152466689
About this school
Our Lady's Catholic College is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided secondary school in Lancaster. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 981 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Our Lady's Catholic 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 179 | 150 | 155 |
| Attainment 8 score | 38.2 | 37.7 | 41.3 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.40 -0.62 to -0.19 | -0.51 -0.74 to -0.27 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 31% | 28.7% | 34.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 49% | 50% | 59.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 10% | 14.7% | 8.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
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 Our Lady's Catholic 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 | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38.2 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.7 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 41.3 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,031 |
| 2023/24 | 1,012 |
| 2024/25 | 999 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Our Lady's Catholic College compares
Our Lady's Catholic College ranked 55th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 43% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 41.3 | 11.6% | 40.6% | 981 | — |
| Lancaster Girls' Grammar School | 73.4 | 5.4% | 6.6% | 1,038 | 0.6 miles |
| Lancaster Royal Grammar School | 74.1 | 6.1% | 8.1% | 1,294 | 0.7 miles |
| Lancaster High School | 35.6 | 14.2% | 46.5% | 567 | 0.8 miles |
| Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy | 50.7 | 7.4% | 10.8% | 1,755 | 1.1 miles |
| Morecambe Bay Academy | 36.8 | 12.6% | 40.6% | 1,045 | 2.4 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 40.62%
- English as an additional language
- 14%
- Overall absence
- 11.63%
- Persistent absence
- 34.86%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Lancaster Girls' Grammar School0.6 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Lancaster Royal Grammar School0.7 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Lancaster High School0.8 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy1.1 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Morecambe Bay Academy2.4 miles
Secondary · Morecambe
Other schools in Lancaster
Our Lady's Catholic College ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Lancaster.
- Lancaster Girls' Grammar School Secondary
- Lancaster High School Secondary
- Lancaster Royal Grammar School Secondary
- Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy Secondary
- Appletree Nursery School Nursery
- Austwick Church of England VA Primary School Primary
- Bentham Community Primary School Primary
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School Primary
- Castle View Primary Academy Primary
- Caton Primary School Primary
- Caton St Paul's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cawthorne's Endowed School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Our Lady's Catholic College teach?
- Our Lady's Catholic College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Lancaster.
- Who is the headteacher of Our Lady's Catholic College?
- The headteacher of Our Lady's Catholic College is Mrs Helen Seddon, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Our Lady's Catholic College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Our Lady's Catholic 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 Our Lady's Catholic College?
- Our Lady's Catholic College has 981 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Our Lady's Catholic College full?
- Our Lady's Catholic College has capacity for 1,148 pupils and 981 on roll (85%), 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 Our Lady's Catholic College a faith school?
- Yes. Our Lady's Catholic College is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Lancaster.
- Is Our Lady's Catholic College a selective school?
- No. Our Lady's Catholic College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Our Lady's Catholic College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 38.2 in 2022/23 and 41.3 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Our Lady's Catholic College compare with other schools in Lancashire?
- Our Lady's Catholic College ranked 55th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 43% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Our Lady's Catholic College's absence rate?
- Our Lady's Catholic College's overall absence rate is 11.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Our Lady's Catholic College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Our Lady's Catholic 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 30 June 2026.