Great Sankey High School

General Information

Address: Barrow Hall Lane, Great Sankey, Warrington, WA5 3AA
Phone: 01925724118
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Dan Whieldon
Age range: 11-18 years
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Number of pupils: 2051
School capacity: 2175
Pupils eligible for free school meals: 213
% eligible for free school meals: 11.6%
Nursery provision: No

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.

Behaviour information for this school has not been added yet.

Attendance

Overall absence: 7.2%
Persistently absent pupils: 18.2%
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.

SEN provision information for this school has not been added yet.

Pupils on SEN Support: 12.4%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.1%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 119 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 46 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 29 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 19 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 18 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 16 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 10 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 7 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 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 –

Behaviour

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Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

Would recommend –

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Educational Attainment

Good 2023 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Educational attainment data for this school has not been added yet.

Attainment 8 score: 50.5
Data year: 2024/25

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.

Ranked #6 of 13 Attainment 8 schools of this type in the area

#4Culcheth High School51.1
#5St Gregory's Catholic High School51.0
#6Great Sankey High School50.5
#7Birchwood Community High School47.9
#8Penketh High School46.5

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

#1Lymm High School59.7
#2King's Leadership Academy Warrington56.0
#3Bridgewater High School51.8
#4Culcheth High School51.1
#5St Gregory's Catholic High School51.0
#6Great Sankey High School50.5
#7Birchwood Community High School47.9
#8Penketh High School46.5
#9Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School46.1
#10Beamont Collegiate Academy45.8
#11Cardinal Newman Catholic High School41.9
#12Padgate Academy39.4
#13Aldridge UTC Warrington23.0

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 97.0%
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 Language
English Literature
Science Double Award
Geography
Religious Studies
History
Business Studies
Spanish
Psychology (General)
Physics (General)
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Art & Design
Food Technology
Sports Studies
French Language
D & T
Computer Science
Photography
Chinese
Statistics
Speech & Drama
Music Studies (General)
Arabic
Russian
Greek
German

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

Ranked #5 of 10 Ofsted Rating schools of this type in the area

#3Cardinal Newman Catholic High SchoolGood
#4Culcheth High SchoolGood
#5Great Sankey High SchoolGood
#6Lymm High SchoolGood
#7Padgate AcademyGood

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

#1Beamont Collegiate AcademyGood
#2Bridgewater High SchoolGood
#3Cardinal Newman Catholic High SchoolGood
#4Culcheth High SchoolGood
#5Great Sankey High SchoolGood
#6Lymm High SchoolGood
#7Padgate AcademyGood
#8Penketh High SchoolGood
#9Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High SchoolGood
#10St Gregory's Catholic High SchoolGood

Financials

Financial summary information for this school has not been added yet.

Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.

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

General Information

Behaviour

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered