St Edward's College

St Edward’s College is a Catholic College educating 11-18 year olds in the heart of Liverpool. Because of its track record of academic success, nurture and enrichment of the whole student the school is extremely popular and oversubscribed, with 900 applications for the 174 places in Year 7. We have very close links to the community including a partnership with our co-located primary school to form the Cathedral Choir School for the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Our offer of extra-curricular activities ranges from music, drama and a wide range of sports to academic clubs such as mathematics and sciences which have been successful in national competitions. Our success in these areas is bolstered by our excellent sports facilities which include our own indoor swimming pool. Our thriving Sixth Form of over 300 students is one of the largest in the city and is enhanced by the Honours Programme which targets Oxbridge and the Russell group universities. 

St Edward’s has over 1100 students on roll from a broad range of backgrounds such that the prior attainment of students based on reading, writing and mathematics is close to the national average. We have strong commitment to musical excellence and 20% of the Year 7 intake is selected on the basis of musical aptitude. Whilst the percentages of students on free school meals, with SEND and with English as an additional language are below national averages, the percentage of students with an educational health and care plans (EHCP) is well above the national average, as the College is frequently identified as the school of choice on EHCPs. Overall Attainment 8 is significantly above the national average and we have a strong ambition to improve our Progress 8.

Since its foundation in 1853, St Edward’s College has evolved and grown in order to meet the needs of the students that it serves. The College was founded as the Catholic Institute by Fr James Nugent, who served the poor of the city of Liverpool, and provided education and food for underprivileged boys in the inner city. In 1902 it was taken over by the Congregation of the Christian Brothers, an order founded by the Blessed Edmund Rice with a mission to serve the poor. In 1920 the school was renamed St Edward’s College and in 1938 moved from Hope Street to its present extensive site in West Derby. In 1947 it became a Direct Grant Grammar School and later an independent school under the assisted places programme. The first cohort of girls were welcomed into Year 7 in 1991 when the College became co-educational; the College became a state comprehensive in 1997. In 2011, St Edward’s became one of the earliest schools to adopt single Academy Trust status. In 2023 the trusteeship of the College transferred from the Christian Brothers to the newly formed national Gaudete Trust, an umbrella organisation for Catholic religious orders in education. Throughout these many changes the College continued to provide high quality Catholic education with a clear focus on the values of the Gospel and a desire to bring out the best in its students.