Apply to St Joseph's College, in plain English.
St Joseph's is a co-educational selective Catholic college in Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent. Children sit the school's own entrance test — register by 2 September 2026 — and must reach an age-adjusted standardised score of 105 to qualify; places are then ranked by faith, Catholics first, with no catchment area. Around 449 children are put forward for roughly 150 places, so reaching the qualifying mark does not guarantee an offer.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Your child sits St Joseph's own entrance test — register by 2 September 2026.
St Joseph's runs its own test (verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning), sat over 15–17 September 2026. You register your child directly with the school online — registration opens 29 June 2026 and closes 2 September 2026; late entries are not considered. Your child must reach an age-adjusted standardised score of 105 to qualify; you are told the outcome by 13 October 2026, before the council deadline.
Faith comes first — and you must return the supplementary information to be ranked on it.
Among children who reach the qualifying mark, places are allocated by faith category: baptised Catholics first (capped at 125 of the 150 places), then other Christians, then children of other faiths or none. To be considered as Catholic you provide a Baptism certificate, and for the practising-Catholic priority a Certificate of Catholic PracticeCertificate of Catholic PracticeIssued by your parish priest to confirm regular practice of the Catholic faith — normally attendance at Sunday Mass and Holy Days. It places a baptised Catholic child in the practising tier within the Catholic category.. The supplementary information must be completed by 31 October 2026 — without it your child is treated as non-Christian.
There is no catchment — distance only breaks ties.
St Joseph's has no designated catchment area and considers applications from any local authority on equal terms. Where children tie for the last place within a category, the closer child wins, measured in a straight line from your front door to the front gate using the council's mapping system. So living nearby helps only with tie-breaks, not with the faith ranking itself.
Five steps — starting now.
If more qualifying children apply than there are places, these criteria decide.
First, children with an EHC plan naming the school are admitted. Then, among children scoring 105+, places are allocated by faith category in the order below. Within every category, looked-after children come first, then siblings, then staff children, with children in receipt of the Pupil Premium ranked ahead before a straight-line distance tie-break. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A qualifying child currently in council care, or who left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or special guardianship, gets first priority — baptised Catholic looked-after children at the very top, then non-Catholic looked-after children. A looked-after child living with a Catholic carer is treated as Catholic where the carer provides proof of Baptism.
What the document says: Children in the care of a local authority or provided with accommodation under Section 22 of the Children Act 1989, including previously looked after children who were adopted or subject to a child arrangements/special guardianship order.
In plain English: Baptised Catholic children take priority after looked-after children, up to a cap of 125 places. Practising Catholics — those who provide a Certificate of Catholic Practice as well as a Baptism certificate — rank above baptised-but-not-practising Catholics. Within both groups, Pupil Premium children rank first.
What the document says: Baptised Catholic children (evidence required) — looked after, then with a sibling at the school, then of a staff member, then other baptised Catholic children. The total for these categories cannot exceed 125. A Certificate of Catholic Practice is required to be classified as a practising Catholic.
In plain English: Children of other Christian denominations come after Catholics — looked-after children first, then siblings, then staff children, then others — normally limited to 18 places. If fewer than 125 Catholic places are filled, the spare Catholic places are added to this Christian allocation.
What the document says: Non-Catholic looked after children; Christian children (proof of denomination required) with a sibling at the school; Christian children of a staff member; other Christian children. Normally limited to 18 places including categories 6–7. Includes all Churches Together in England, CYTÛN, or local Churches Together groups.
In plain English: Children of other faiths or no faith — and any qualifying child who did not complete the supplementary information — come last: those with a sibling at the school first, then children of staff, then any other children. A child does not have to be Catholic or Christian to apply; these groups simply rank below the faith categories above.
What the document says: Non-Christian children with a sibling attending St Joseph's College; non-Christian children whose parent is a staff member; other non-Christian children or those of no faith. Children who score 105 or more but do not complete the supplementary information will be considered non-Christian for admissions purposes.
In plain English: The faith categories above set the order of priority. Inside each one, the sub-order is looked-after children, then children with a sibling already at the College, then children of staff, then everyone else. Children in receipt of the Pupil Premium are ranked ahead within their category before the distance tie-break is applied.
What the document says: Each faith band is ordered: looked after; sibling attending St Joseph's College in September 2027; child of a school staff member; other children. In the event of oversubscription within categories 8–11 priority will be given to children in receipt of Pupil Premium before the distance tie-breaker is applied. Pupil Premium boosts a child's ranking within their Catholic or non-Catholic category.
Tie-breaks: Within any category, after Pupil Premium, the closer child wins — measured 'as the crow flies' from the front door of your home to the front gate of the College, using the council's GIS. If two children are exactly equal in distance for the final place, it is decided by computerised random allocation. Twins and other multiple-birth siblings may be offered places together even if this exceeds 150.
No boundary — faith decides, and distance only breaks ties.
St Joseph's has no designated catchment, so a qualifying child from anywhere can be considered on equal terms. What orders the list is faith — baptised Catholics, then other Christians, then children of other faiths or none — with looked-after children, siblings, staff children and Pupil Premium deciding rank within each group. Distance is only the final tie-breaker for the last place in a category.
Distance is measured 'as the crow flies' from your permanent home address to the school's front gate, using the council's mapping system — not by walking or driving route. The displayed circle on our map is illustrative only; it is not a real boundary, and no fixed cutoff distance is published.
See St Joseph's location on the GrammarBound mapFaith ranks ahead of a closer home from another group.
Both children reach the qualifying score. Child A is a baptised Catholic, placing them in the Catholic category; Child B lives closer but belongs to a lower faith category. Because faith sets the order before distance, Child A is ranked ahead. Distance would only separate two children inside the same category.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Qualifying children (scoring 105+) who were not offered a place are held on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria and re-ordered each time a name is added or removed — not by the order you joined. Ask St Joseph's to keep your child on the list.
Request a waiting-list place via St Joseph's directly.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent panel, which follows the statutory School Admission Appeals Code. The appeal timetable is published on the school's admissions page. Appealing does not remove your child from the waiting list — you can do both.
Joining Year 12.
St Joseph's keeps a Year 12 admission number of 200, which includes its own Year 11s plus external students.
The grade floor.
The general entry requirement is a minimum of three grade 5s and three grade 4s at GCSE, including at least a grade 4 in English Language and Mathematics. Individual A-level and BTEC courses set higher subject-specific grades on top of this — many sciences and maths require a 6 or 7 in the relevant GCSE — published each year in the sixth-form entry criteria.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply directly to St Joseph's by the published deadline. Offers are conditional on GCSE results and are confirmed on results day once the grade requirements are met, including any subject-specific grades for chosen courses. An annual bursary fund supports sixth-form students facing financial difficulties.