England · Grammar school
St Anselm's College
Birkenhead · Boys only · ages 11 to 18
Official record: Get Information About Schools (URN 136780)
Overview
- Address
- Manor Hill, Prenton, Merseyside, Birkenhead, CH43 1UQ
- Status
- Open
- Admits
- Boys only
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Number of pupils
- 1,002
- Capacity
- 1,026
- Eligible for free school meals
- 11%
- Sixth form
- Yes
- School type
- Academy converter
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- THE LAETARE CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Local authority
- Wirral
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026 · Source: Desk research (cited public sources) (financial-benchmarking-and-insights-tool.education.gov.uk), last checked 31 October 2026
Admissions and the 11+
- Admissions policy
- Selective (grammar school)
- Selection in this area
- Fully selective area30% of Year 7 places offered in Wirral for September 2026 were at selective schools (DfE applications and offers). We class an area as fully selective at 25% or more. Confirm with the local authority's admissions guide.
- Entrance test
- Not yet available
- Qualifying score
- Not yet available
- Catchment area
- For September 2026 entry, priority goes to baptised Catholic boys living in the relevant area, defined as Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester, and anywhere else within 10 miles of the College. Within each group, places go by entrance test rank.
- Children from outside the catchment
- Sometimes: For September 2026 entry, boys from outside the relevant area are considered after boys in the matching faith group inside it, in test-rank order.
Applications and offers for Year 7
For September 2026 entry, 320 applicants named this school (155 as their first choice) for 157 places. 12 of 157 offers went to children living outside Wirral.
| Intake | Places offered | Applicants | First choice | First choices per place | Offers to children outside Wirral |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2026 | 157 | 320 | 155 | 1.0 | 12 |
| Sept 2025 | 156 | 332 | 162 | 1.0 | 13 |
| Sept 2024 | 155 | 333 | 164 | 1.1 | 16 |
| Sept 2023 | 136 | 305 | 134 | 1.0 | 11 |
| Sept 2022 | 140 | 315 | 141 | 1.0 | 12 |
Show all 13 years
| Intake | Places offered | Applicants | First choice | First choices per place | Offers to children outside Wirral |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2021 | 153 | 317 | 151 | 1.0 | 10 |
| Sept 2020 | 134 | 279 | 132 | 1.0 | 11 |
| Sept 2019 | 139 | 278 | 138 | 1.0 | 11 |
| Sept 2018 | 138 | 279 | 138 | 1.0 | 11 |
| Sept 2017 | 125 | 278 | 121 | 1.0 | 9 |
| Sept 2016 | 135 | 291 | 159 | 1.2 | 9 |
| Sept 2015 | 134 | 298 | 140 | 1.0 | 8 |
| Sept 2014 | 97 | 203 | 93 | 1.0 | 5 |
"Applicants" counts every family that listed the school as any preference, so it is higher than the number competing for each place. "Outside Wirral" means a home in another local authority; it is not the school's catchment area. For grammar schools, offers also depend on the entrance test result.
Source: Secondary and primary school applications and offers (Department for Education), last checked 31 October 2026
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026 · Source: Admissions research (cited public sources) (st-anselms.com), last checked 1 November 2026
Key dates for September 2027 entry
- Test registration (Wirral grammar schools)
- 1 May 2026 to 1 June 2026
- Test date
- 15 September 2026Consortium (Calday Grange, West Kirby, Wirral Boys and Girls) sit Wirral Admissions Test run by Quest on 15 Sep; closes noon 1 June (some sources say 31 May). Results mid-October (one source ~21 Oct, unconfirmed). St Anselm's own exam 18 Sep (registration 10 or 31 Jul); Upton Hall FCJ own exam, deadline 10 Jul. No Wirral Council page found.
- Results sent to families
- Not yet available
- Apply to your council (September 2027 entry)
- By 31 October 2026This date has passed: late applications go to your council and are usually considered after on-time ones.
- National offer day
- 1 March 2027Offers are sent on 1 March, or the next working day.
- Open days
- Not yet available
- School opened (current registration)
- 1 June 2011
Unverified: test dates come from desk research (medium confidence). Confirm them with the council or test organiser. Sources: leadingtuition.co.uk/11-plus/wirral-grammar-schools, leadingtuition.co.uk/blog/st-anselms-college-wirral-11-plus-guide-2026.
Statutory dates: School Admissions Code (Department for Education).
Guide to the Wirral grammar schools and its schools · How applying works
Source: Test dates research (cited public sources) (leadingtuition.co.uk), last checked 1 November 2026 · Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026
Ofsted inspection
Inspected on 18 March 2025. Current grade Good, from its last graded inspection (Ofsted stopped giving overall grades in September 2024). Read the report ↗
Inspection history (5)
Source: Ofsted inspection reports, last checked 31 October 2026
Exam results
GCSE results 2025/26 (provisional)
| Measure | This school | Selective schools in England | All state schools in England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8Average grade across 8 GCSE-level subjects, doubled for English and maths (maximum 90). | 63.1 | 72.1 | 46.2 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 88% | 93.7% | 46.3% |
| Grade 7 or above in English and maths | 27.2% | 57.7% | 14.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 94.9% | 98.3% | 64.8% |
| Progress 8Not published for most schools in recent years, because primary school tests were cancelled in 2020 and 2021. | – | – | – |
Attainment 8 over time: 55.6 (2023/24) → 57.2 (2024/25) → 63.1 (2025/26).
158 pupils took GCSEs. Results reflect a selective intake: compare grammar schools with each other rather than with all schools.
Source: Key stage 4 performance (GCSE results) (Department for Education), last checked 31 October 2026
How to get there
- Postcode
- CH43 1UQ
- Map location
- 53.38997, -3.04887
- Open in OpenStreetMap
- Directions and surroundings ↗
- Telephone
- 01516521408
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026
Official links and documents
- School website
- www.st-anselms.com
- Official register record
- Get Information About Schools (URN 136780) ↗
- Admissions policy document
- Not yet available
- Further reading
- Wikipedia ↗
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026