St Wilfrid's RC College
Temple Park Road, South Shields, NE34 0QA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- BISHOP CHADWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Catherine Lennox
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
- Sponsor
- Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust
- Constituency
- South Shields
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,450
- Pupils on roll
- 1,271
- URN
- 142601
- Local authority
- South Tyneside
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01914569121
About this school
St Wilfrid's RC College is a Roman Catholic secondary academy in South Shields. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,271 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Wilfrid's RC College, 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
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 213 | 225 | 232 |
| Attainment 8 score | 48.1 | 48.1 | 48.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.23 -0.42 to -0.04 | -0.27 -0.45 to -0.08 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% | 46.7% | 50% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 71.1% | 74.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 59% | 68.9% | 30.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
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 Wilfrid's RC 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 | South Tyneside average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 48.1 | 37.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 48.1 | 33.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48.2 | 37.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,328 |
| 2023/24 | 1,356 |
| 2024/25 | 1,338 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Wilfrid's RC College compares
St Wilfrid's RC College ranked 2nd of 8 secondary schools in South Tyneside for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 70% 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 | 48.2 | 9.8% | 33% | 1,271 | — |
| Mortimer Community College | 41.9 | 11.4% | 48.7% | 1,139 | 0.4 miles |
| Harton Academy | 42.6 | 10% | 35% | 1,599 | 0.9 miles |
| Boldon School | 37.1 | 12.5% | 53.1% | 1,043 | 1.8 miles |
| Jarrow School | 42.6 | 11.3% | 45.7% | 844 | 2.4 miles |
| Norham High School | 42.7 | 8% | 63.2% | 498 | 2.7 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)
- 33%
- English as an additional language
- 11.6%
- Overall absence
- 9.79%
- Persistent absence
- 28.49%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Mortimer Community College0.4 miles
Secondary · South Shields
-
Harton Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · South Shields
-
Boldon School1.8 miles
Secondary · Boldon Colliery
-
Jarrow School2.4 miles
Secondary · Jarrow
-
Norham High School2.7 miles
Secondary · North Shields
Other schools in South Shields
- Harton Academy Secondary
- Mortimer Community College Secondary
- Ashley Academy Primary
- Biddick Hall Infants' School Primary
- Biddick Hall Junior School Primary
- Forest View Primary Primary
- Hadrian Primary School Primary
- Harton Primary School Primary
- Holy Trinity Church of England Academy (South Shields) Primary
- Laygate Community School Primary
- Lord Blyton Primary School Primary
- Marine Park Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Wilfrid's RC College teach?
- St Wilfrid's RC College teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in South Shields.
- Who is the headteacher of St Wilfrid's RC College?
- The headteacher of St Wilfrid's RC College is Mrs Catherine Lennox, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Wilfrid's RC College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Wilfrid's RC 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 St Wilfrid's RC College?
- St Wilfrid's RC College has 1,271 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is St Wilfrid's RC College full?
- St Wilfrid's RC College has capacity for 1,450 pupils and 1,271 on roll (88%), 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 Wilfrid's RC College a faith school?
- Yes. St Wilfrid's RC College is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.
- Is St Wilfrid's RC College a selective school?
- No. St Wilfrid's RC College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is St Wilfrid's RC College part of an academy trust?
- St Wilfrid's RC College is part of BISHOP CHADWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have St Wilfrid's RC College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 48.1 in 2022/23 and 48.2 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 Wilfrid's RC College compare with other schools in South Tyneside?
- St Wilfrid's RC College ranked 2nd of 8 secondary schools in South Tyneside for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 70% 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 Wilfrid's RC College's absence rate?
- St Wilfrid's RC College's overall absence rate is 9.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Wilfrid's RC College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Wilfrid's RC 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 2 July 2026.