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Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy

Secondary · Ilkeston · DE7 4HX

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Good (2019)

Last grade Ofsted published, no newer grade exists

Ofsted graded this school Good in 2019. Every inspection since has been ungraded, and an ungraded inspection cannot change a grade. The most recent found “Standards maintained”. Ofsted's current data file lists only graded inspections from September 2019 onwards, so this grade has dropped out of it, but it is still the school's grade of record, and still on Ofsted's own report page. It is old, so weigh it against the more recent evidence on this page.

Inspected 15 May 2019

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

625 pupils · 103% of 606 capacity (over capacity)

School type
Academy converter
Age range
11–16
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
29.8% of pupils
English as additional language
7.8% of pupils
SEN support
13.9% of pupils
EHC plan
3.2% of pupils
Website
https://www.stjohnhoughtonilkeston.srscmat.co.uk
URN
137908

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

0.97 first-choice applications per place

106 places offered · 103 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

GCSE results (2024/2025)

148 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
48.1
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
70.9%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
50%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
4.3
England 4.1

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.

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school48.1
Median of its 12 closest peers41
Derbyshire average44.8
England46.1

On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Outwood Academy RiponRipon · 82 miles awayGood46.6
Torpoint Community CollegeTorpoint · 217 miles awayGood41
Fakenham AcademyFakenham · 91 miles awayNo current grade40.9
The John Warner SchoolHoddesdon · 99 miles awayInadequate40.8
Sir Thomas Fremantle SchoolWinslow · 73 miles awayGood40.4
Ernulf AcademySt. Neots · 68 miles awayGood40.3
Sheringham High SchoolSheringham · 105 miles awayGood47.1
Heath Lane AcademyLeicester · 27 miles awayGood (2019)40
Sandymoor Ormiston AcademyRuncorn · 61 miles awayGood44.4
Fowey River AcademyFowey · 231 miles awayGood39.7
Lady Lumley's AcademyPickering · 92 miles awayGood52.7
Bury St Edmunds County High SchoolBury St Edmunds · 98 miles awayExpected standard49.8

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
8.8%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
21.5%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
16.7
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

100% of teachers stayed at the school the following year

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£7,555
Typical secondary school£7,798

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where pupils go after GCSEs

In sustained education, work or training
93%
Continuing in education
83%
Apprenticeship
9%
Employment
1%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
7/10less deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
5/10around the middle for England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher17.4%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications27.6%18.1%
In managerial or professional work22%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways20.7%18.1%
Residents in very good health38.9%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier76.3%62.3%
Social housing10.3%17.1%
Privately rented13.4%20.5%
Detached houses8.1%22.9%
Flats7.8%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms6.7%21.1%
Households with no car or van20.1%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01019669 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,274 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£185,000153 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£160,000–£218,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (20)£288,000
Semi-detached (91)£190,000
Terraced (40)£160,500

Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. 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
0an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
0an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
2an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
1an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools