The Sutton Academy
Elton Head Road, St Helens, WA9 5AU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE CHALLENGE ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Ms Lynsey Gobin
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- The Challenge Academy Trust
- Constituency
- St Helens South and Whiston
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,550
- Pupils on roll
- 1,441
- URN
- 136141
- Local authority
- St. Helens
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01744678859
About this school
The Sutton Academy is a secondary academy in St Helens. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,441 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
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong 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 | 207 | 263 | 256 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.1 | 43.1 | 43.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.08 -0.28 to +0.11 | -0.06 -0.24 to +0.11 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 39% | 39.9% | 39.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 60% | 56.3% | 55.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 40% | 39.5% | 34.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
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 The Sutton Academy 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 | 43.1 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.1 | 38.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.1 | 30.8 | 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 | 10.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,414 |
| 2023/24 | 1,457 |
| 2024/25 | 1,451 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Sutton Academy compares
The Sutton Academy ranked 4th of 7 secondary schools in St. Helens for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 7% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.1 | 10.2% | 40.4% | 1,441 | — |
| Rainhill High School | 45.9 | 6% | 18.4% | 1,535 | 1.4 miles |
| St. Cuthbert's Catholic Academy | — | — | — | — | 1.7 miles |
| Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic Academy | 30.2 | 16.2% | 50.2% | 730 | 2.3 miles |
| St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy | 42.6 | 8.9% | 48.7% | 549 | 2.4 miles |
| De La Salle School | — | 9.3% | 24.8% | 1,180 | 2.5 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 report16 June 2026
- 14 June 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 40.36%
- English as an additional language
- 5.8%
- Overall absence
- 10.23%
- Persistent absence
- 27.81%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Rainhill High School1.4 miles
Secondary · Prescot
-
St. Cuthbert's Catholic Academy1.7 miles
Secondary · St Helens
-
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic Academy2.3 miles
Secondary · Prescot
-
St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy2.4 miles
Secondary · St. Helens
-
De La Salle School2.5 miles
Secondary · St. Helens
Other schools in St Helens
- Cowley International College Secondary
- Rainford High School Secondary
- St. Cuthbert's Catholic 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
Recorded changes at this school
Previous principal: Mr Paul Willerton (until August 2026).
- Headteacher changed from Mr Paul Willerton to Ms Lynsey Gobin recorded 25 Aug 2026
Common questions
- What year groups does The Sutton Academy teach?
- The Sutton Academy teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in St Helens.
- Who is the principal of The Sutton Academy?
- The principal of The Sutton Academy is Ms Lynsey Gobin, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Sutton Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Sutton Academy, 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 The Sutton Academy?
- The Sutton Academy has 1,441 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Sutton Academy full?
- The Sutton Academy has capacity for 1,550 pupils and 1,441 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 The Sutton Academy a faith school?
- No. The Sutton Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Sutton Academy a selective school?
- No. The Sutton Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Sutton Academy?
- The Sutton Academy is part of THE CHALLENGE ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Sutton Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.1 in 2022/23 and 43.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Sutton Academy rank locally?
- The Sutton Academy ranked 4th of 7 secondary schools in St. Helens for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 7% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Sutton Academy's absence rate?
- The Sutton Academy's overall absence rate is 10.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Sutton Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Sutton Academy'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 25 August 2026.