England · Grammar school
St Joseph's College
Stoke-on-Trent · Mixed (co-educational) · ages 11 to 18
Official record: Get Information About Schools (URN 136460)
Overview
- Address
- London Road, Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 5NT
- Status
- Open
- Admits
- Mixed (co-educational)
- Age range
- 11 to 18
- Number of pupils
- 1,104
- Capacity
- 1,115
- Eligible for free school meals
- 8.6%
- Sixth form
- Yes
- School type
- Academy converter
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- THE LAETARE CATHOLIC MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Local authority
- Stoke-on-Trent
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026 · Source: Desk research (cited public sources) (get-information-schools.service.gov.uk), last checked 31 October 2026
Admissions and the 11+
- Admissions policy
- Selective (grammar school)
- Selection in this area
- Partially selective area5% of Year 7 places offered in Stoke-on-Trent 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, the college has no catchment area and considers applications from any local authority. Children must reach the test standard (age-adjusted score of 105). Places then go by faith groups (up to 125 Catholic, up to 18 other Christian, then others), with nearest home first when a group is oversubscribed.
- Children from outside the catchment
- Yes: For September 2026 entry, children from any area can be offered places. Within each faith group, ties are broken by straight-line distance, so in practice the later groups favour children living close by.
Past offers: lowest score and furthest distance
| Intake | Applicant group | Lowest score offered | Last distance offered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2025 | baptised Catholic children (criterion 4)Distance of the last child admitted in the Catholic group. Stoke-on-Trent City Council's table; the file name and creation date (September 2025) point to September 2025 entry, though the council page labels the link 'September 2026', so confidence is medium. | – | 29.73 km (18.47 miles) | stoke.gov.uksecondary source |
| other children (criterion 11)Distance of the last child admitted in the final group. Stoke-on-Trent City Council's table; the file name and creation date (September 2025) point to September 2025 entry, though the council page labels the link 'September 2026', so confidence is medium. | – | 1.04 km (0.64 miles) | stoke.gov.uksecondary source | |
| other Christian children (criterion 8)Distance of the last child admitted in the other Christian group. Stoke-on-Trent City Council's table; the file name and creation date (September 2025) point to September 2025 entry, though the council page labels the link 'September 2026', so confidence is medium. | – | 1.74 km (1.08 miles) | stoke.gov.uksecondary source |
From published allocation data found in desk research (checked 1 November 2026); not yet confirmed with the school. Scores from different tests or years are not comparable, and a past cut-off does not guarantee a future place.
Applications and offers for Year 7
For September 2026 entry, 438 applicants named this school (285 as their first choice) for 150 places. 63 of 150 offers went to children living outside Stoke-on-Trent.
| Intake | Places offered | Applicants | First choice | First choices per place | Offers to children outside Stoke-on-Trent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2026 | 150 | 438 | 285 | 1.9 | 63 |
| Sept 2025 | 149 | 449 | 270 | 1.8 | 55 |
| Sept 2024 | 147 | 545 | 325 | 2.2 | 59 |
| Sept 2023 | 149 | 428 | 274 | 1.8 | 52 |
| Sept 2022 | 150 | 432 | 277 | 1.8 | 53 |
Show all 13 years
| Intake | Places offered | Applicants | First choice | First choices per place | Offers to children outside Stoke-on-Trent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 2021 | 149 | 409 | 230 | 1.5 | 48 |
| Sept 2020 | 149 | 443 | 290 | 1.9 | 60 |
| Sept 2019 | 150 | 420 | 275 | 1.8 | 64 |
| Sept 2018 | 150 | 386 | 255 | 1.7 | 68 |
| Sept 2017 | 149 | 368 | 263 | 1.8 | 69 |
| Sept 2016 | 150 | 415 | 266 | 1.8 | 82 |
| Sept 2015 | 149 | 388 | 263 | 1.8 | 79 |
| Sept 2014 | 150 | 335 | 252 | 1.7 | 72 |
"Applicants" counts every family that listed the school as any preference, so it is higher than the number competing for each place. "Outside Stoke-on-Trent" 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) (stjosephstrentvale.com), last checked 1 November 2026
Key dates
- Test registration
- Not yet available
- Test date
- Not yet available
- 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 February 2011
Statutory dates: School Admissions Code (Department for Education).
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026
Ofsted inspection
Inspected on 29 April 2025. Read the report ↗
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Sixth form provision
- Outstanding
From September 2024 Ofsted no longer gives an overall grade for state schools.
Inspection history (4)
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). | 63.6 | 72.1 | 46.2 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 84% | 93.7% | 46.3% |
| Grade 7 or above in English and maths | 27.3% | 57.7% | 14.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 98.7% | 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: 62 (2023/24) → 62.4 (2024/25) → 63.6 (2025/26).
150 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
- ST4 5NT
- Map location
- 52.98786, -2.19875
- Open in OpenStreetMap
- Directions and surroundings ↗
- Telephone
- 01782848008
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026
Official links and documents
- School website
- stjosephstrentvale.com
- Official register record
- Get Information About Schools (URN 136460) ↗
- Admissions policy document
- Not yet available
- Further reading
- Wikipedia ↗
Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026