Essa Academy - The School Companion

Essa Academy

Bolton · BL3 3HH

General information Secondary School · 11-16 years Who goes here 1055 pupils, 49% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 13.8% on SEN support Behaviour 7.6% absence rate Staff 29.9% turnover Financials £8,078 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Essa Academy

General Information

Address: Lever Edge Lane, Bolton, BL3 3HH – View on map
Phone: 01204333222
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Mel Flynn
Age range: 11-16 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 222 families put it first for 200 places – 11 for every 10 places. 85% of them were offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 8 · 2024 11 · 2025 10 · 2026 11
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1055 pupils out of 990 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 517
% eligible for free school meals: 49.0%
Pupil mix: 7 in 10 (more mixed than the Bolton average)
English as an additional language: 58% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 29.9% a year (Bolton 16.5%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 61% moved to another school, 39% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Bolton: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 65 (2.9 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 28 (1.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 15 (0.7 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Bolton, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 7.6%
Persistently absent pupils: 23.2%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 13.8%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.8%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Moderate learning difficulty: 71 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 18 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 14 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 12 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 12 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Moderate learning difficulty: 9 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 5 pupils
Hearing impairment: 5 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 4 pupils
Physical disability: 3 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card January 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Strong standard
Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
Achievement Strong standard
Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
Leadership and governance Strong standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 53.0
Compared with the area: 6.2 points above the Bolton average (46.8)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Above (+4.8 points against an expected 48.2)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 75% (Bolton 66%, England 65%) Improving
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolBolton averageEngland↗ Improving Up 7.3 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 6.2 points above the Bolton average (46.8).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

6th of 18 secondary schools in Bolton for Attainment 8

#4St James's Church of England High School53.5
#5Eden Boys' School, Bolton53.0
#6Essa Academy53.0
#7Kearsley Academy51.8
#8Little Lever School46.2

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Sharples School55.6
#2Bolton Muslim Girls School54.7
#3Canon Slade School53.9
#4St James's Church of England High School53.5
#5Eden Boys' School, Bolton53.0
#6Essa Academy53.0
#7Kearsley Academy51.8
#8Little Lever School46.2
#9Thornleigh Salesian College45.7
#10King's Leadership Academy Bolton45.4
#11St Joseph's RC High School44.8
#12Westhoughton High School44.4
#13Turton School43.7
#14Harper Green School42.8
#15Ladybridge High School41.7
#16University Collegiate School36.7
#17Smithills School36.5
#18Bolton St Catherine's Academy34.3

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 93.0%
Went into further education: 91.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Literature
English Language
Science Double Award
Art & Design
History
Religious Studies
Geography
Business Studies
Computer Science
Photography
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Spanish
Physics (General)
Speech & Drama
French Language
Music Studies (General)
Urdu
Italian
Arabic
Portuguese
Polish

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £8,078 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

4th of 19 secondary schools in Bolton for spending per pupil

#2Harper Green School£8,582
#3Smithills School£8,392
#4Essa Academy£8,078
#5University Collegiate School£8,071
#6Ladybridge High School£8,012

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Bolton St Catherine's Academy£8,829
#2Harper Green School£8,582
#3Smithills School£8,392
#4Essa Academy£8,078
#5University Collegiate School£8,071
#6Ladybridge High School£8,012
#7Turton School£7,960
#8Kearsley Academy£7,823
#9Eden Boys' School, Bolton£7,791
#10Sharples School£7,722
#11Bolton Muslim Girls School£7,705
#12Little Lever School£7,653
#13St James's Church of England High School£7,584
#14King's Leadership Academy Bolton£7,528
#15Thornleigh Salesian College£7,363
#16Westhoughton High School£7,283
#17St Joseph's RC High School£7,251
#18Canon Slade School£6,916
#19Mount St Joseph RC High School a Voluntary Academy£6,182

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Bolton: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered