St Joseph's Catholic School
Church Road, Laverstock, Salisbury, SP1 1QY
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mr Matthew Higgins
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Diocese of Clifton
- Constituency
- Salisbury
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 625
- Pupils on roll
- 565
- URN
- 126473
- Local authority
- Wiltshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01722335380
About this school
St Joseph's Catholic School is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided secondary school in Salisbury. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 565 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Catholic School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 112 | 103 | 117 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.6 | 39.9 | 40.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.27 -0.53 to 0.00 | -0.64 -0.93 to -0.35 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% | 37.9% | 39.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 58.3% | 61.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 31% | 18.4% | 9.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
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 Joseph's Catholic School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Wiltshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.6 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.9 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.4 | 36.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 594 |
| 2023/24 | 597 |
| 2024/25 | 597 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Joseph's Catholic School compares
St Joseph's Catholic School ranked 21st of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.4 | 7.3% | 25.1% | 565 | — |
| Wyvern St Edmund's Academy | 42.2 | 9.8% | 21.9% | 1,337 | 0.1 miles |
| South Wilts Grammar School | 77 | 4.2% | 2.4% | 1,200 | 1.3 miles |
| Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School | 73.1 | 4.7% | 5.2% | 1,193 | 1.5 miles |
| Sarum Academy | 33.7 | 14% | 40.1% | 747 | 2.8 miles |
| The Trafalgar School at Downton | 44.3 | 8.6% | 15.2% | 808 | 6.3 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)
- 25.13%
- English as an additional language
- 20.8%
- Overall absence
- 7.32%
- Persistent absence
- 19.02%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Wyvern St Edmund's Academy0.1 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
South Wilts Grammar School1.3 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School1.5 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
Sarum Academy2.8 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
-
The Trafalgar School at Downton6.3 miles
Secondary · Salisbury
Other schools in Salisbury
St Joseph's Catholic School ranks 5th of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Salisbury.
- Avon Valley Academy Secondary
- Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School Secondary
- Sarum Academy Secondary
- South Wilts Grammar School Secondary
- The Trafalgar School at Downton Secondary
- Wyvern St Edmund's Academy Secondary
- Alderbury and West Grimstead Church of England Primary School Primary
- Amesbury Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Bemerton St John Church of England Primary Primary
- Broad Chalke CofE Primary School Primary
- Bulford St Leonard's C of E (VA) Primary School Primary
- Chilmark and Fonthill Bishop Church of England Aided Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Joseph's Catholic School teach?
- St Joseph's Catholic School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Salisbury.
- Who is the headteacher of St Joseph's Catholic School?
- The headteacher of St Joseph's Catholic School is Mr Matthew Higgins, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Joseph's Catholic School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Catholic School, 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 St Joseph's Catholic School?
- St Joseph's Catholic School has 565 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is St Joseph's Catholic School full?
- St Joseph's Catholic School has capacity for 625 pupils and 565 on roll (90%), 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 St Joseph's Catholic School a faith school?
- Yes. St Joseph's Catholic School is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Clifton.
- Is St Joseph's Catholic School a selective school?
- No. St Joseph's Catholic School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have St Joseph's Catholic School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.6 in 2022/23 and 40.4 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 Joseph's Catholic School compare with other schools in Wiltshire?
- St Joseph's Catholic School ranked 21st of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% 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 Joseph's Catholic School's absence rate?
- St Joseph's Catholic School's overall absence rate is 7.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Joseph's Catholic School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Joseph's Catholic School'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.