Cowley International College
Secondary · St Helens · WA10 6PN
Data updated
Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)
The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.
Inspected 10 March 2026 · report published 30 April 2026
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,514 pupils · 93% of 1,620 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 37.5% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 7.1% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 17% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.5% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- URN
- 104829
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 213 families named it first for 243 Year 7 places, 0.88 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2025 entry went to 2.466 miles; distance decided places in 10 of the 11 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2013 to 2026. At its report-card inspection on 10 March 2026, under the system Ofsted introduced in November 2025, the Achievement area was judged Needs attention. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 9.7% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.88 first-choice applications per place243 places offered · 213 first-choice applications · roughly balanced
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2025 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 2.466 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: St Helens school admissions · the wider St. Helens authority
GCSE results (2024/2025)
240 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
A-level results (2024/2025)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| The Sutton Academy | 43.1 | |
| Sirius Academy West | 38.7 | |
| Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy | 41 | |
| Beckfoot Thornton | 40.2 | |
| Winifred Holtby Academy | 36.4 | |
| Noel-Baker Academy | 36.3 | |
| Discovery Academy | 37.4 | |
| St Mary Magdalene Academy | 59.3 | |
| Beckfoot Oakbank | 35.3 | |
| Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy | 36.6 | |
| Paignton Academy | 36.9 | |
| Lord Grey Academy | 40.4 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 86% (St. Helens 89%, England 59%) · Black African 3% (St. Helens 2%, England 5%) · Any other White background 3% (St. Helens 3%, England 7%) · Asian Chinese 2% (St. Helens 1%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 1% (St. Helens 1%, England 3%) · Not recorded 1% (St. Helens 1%, England 2%) · Any other ethnic group 1% (St. Helens 1%, England 3%) · Any other Mixed background 1% (St. Helens 1%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Asian 1% (St. Helens 1%, England 2%) · other groups together 2%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
40.85 suspensions per 100 pupils and 10 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · St. Helens: 31.76 suspensions and 0.39 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
81% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 9% moved to another state school · 10% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
1.06% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained secondaries: 0.22% vacant, 0.42% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
21.9% of teachers took sickness absence, 22.1 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £52,137; 12.4% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2025-26)
Where the money went (2025-26)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 77% (77%) · premises 5% (6%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 7% (7%) · supplies and services 10% (10%) · educational supplies 5% (6%) · bought-in professional services 5% (2%) · catering 2% (3%)
Reserves (2025-26)
Revenue reserve £2,069,512; in-year balance +£810,480
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: council-maintained school finance return, 2025-26, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Where students go after sixth form
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 10 March 2026: Needs attention
- 23 November 2021: School remains Good
- 12 October 2016: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 2/10among the most deprived fifth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 1/10among the most deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 21.7% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 22.5% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 21.2% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 29.5% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 47.1% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 44.3% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 37.8% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 17.5% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 9.4% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 3.9% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 5.2% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 32.4% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01006919 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £176,500267 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £137,000–£234,500the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (3.97 km, 2025 entry): 2,313 sales, median £168,500. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 7an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 6an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 9an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 4an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted