St Margaret's Church of England Academy is an 11–18 boys

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in Aigburth, Liverpool, England. Frequently shortened to SMA, as of November 2021, a total of 1,039 boys attended the school, 200 of which were in the co–educational

Sixth Form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

provision.

History

The school was founded by Alderman William Preston, one time Mayor of Liverpool, and the Vicar of St. Margaret's,

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

, Reverend John Sheepshanks. The school opened in 1879 by the parish dignitary and MP for West

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Liverpool, Canning, Dingle, Liverpool, Dingle, and Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill ...

, Mr TB Royden. The school's first Headmaster was Mr E Crossley and an early teacher and benefactor was Mrs Gertrude Langton. The school began as a Higher Grade School and after the 1918 Education Act, St Margaret's was recognised as a Central School with a selective intake based on a competitive examination. After the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

, the school was restyled St. Margaret's Church of England School and during the 1950s courses leading to the GCE 'O' Level and 'A' Level examinations were established. In 1963 the school moved from Anfield to Aigburth. In the 1970s it had around 550 boys. In 1980 it was enlarged to a four-form entry school for students from 11 to 18 years of age. This was the year that the school had their first intake of girl students. St Margaret's is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

High School and was awarded Technology College status in 1997, and Specialist Language College status in 2008. The school increased its intake to five-form entry in September 1998. In September 2015 the school again increased its intake to six-form entry.

Overview

Admissions

The school accepts 160 boys per year, and girls are accepted in years 12 and 13. St Margaret's Sixth Form is part of the Faiths Partnership with fellow member schools

St Hilda's Church of England High School St Hilda's Church of England High School is a secondary school with a sixth form, located in Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool, England. As of 2022-23, The school has been Co-educational since 2015. St Hilda’s spent many years as an all gir ...

, Archbishop Blanch School and Bellerive FCJ Catholic College. The school is on Aigburth Road (A561) just north of

Aigburth railway station Aigburth railway station serves the Aigburth district of Liverpool, England. It is situated on the Ormskirk–Hunts Cross route of the Northern Line of the Merseyrail suburban system. History The station, originally called ''Mersey Road'', ...

in Aigburth, just east of

Otterspool Otterspool Promenade is a riverside walk and accompanying area of parkland in the Aigburth and Grassendale districts of Liverpool, England. The promenade runs along the bank of the River Mersey from just north of Port of Garston, Garston Docks ...

. It is next to the

Church of St Anne, Aigburth The Church of St Anne is in Aigburth Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese o ...

(C of E) which is the local parish covering the school.

Academic Attainment

In 2019, the school's Progress 8 measure for

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

was average. Attainment 8 score was above average. The proportion of children achieving Maths and English GCSEs was considerably above average. The proportion of children entering the

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

was considerably lower than average. The average A level grade was C+, in line with the England average, and the average A level points score was 32, below the England average of 24. Attainment 8 score was above average. As of 2022, the school's most recent inspection judgement from

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

was that the school requires improvement. In 2020, the report from Ofsted was good and was confirmed by a short inspection in 2018.

School houses

The school organises boys into six School Houses – Crossley, Royden, Langton, Sheepshanks, Preston and Walton. * – Crossley * – Royden * – Langton * – Sheepshanks * – Preston * – Walton

Notable former pupils

Elliot Morley Elliot Anthony Morley (born 6 July 1952) is a British former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by ''The ...

, Labour MP from 1997 to 2010 for

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

and from 1987 to 1997 for Glanford and Scunthorpe.

References

External links

School's official website

Streets of Culture

EduBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Margaret's CE Academy Boys' schools in Merseyside Educational institutions established in 1879 Secondary schools in Liverpool Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Liverpool 1879 establishments in England Academies in Liverpool