Great Sankey High School

Warrington · WA5 3AA

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 2051 pupils, 11.6% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 12.4% on SEN support Behaviour 7.2% absence rate Staff 16.9% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

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Great Sankey High School

General Information

Address: Barrow Hall Lane, Great Sankey, Warrington, WA5 3AA – View on map
Phone: 01925724118
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Dan Whieldon
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 278 families put it first for 325 places – 9 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 10 of the 325 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 11 · 2024 9 · 2025 9 · 2026 9
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Does not apply
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

2051 pupils out of 2175 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 213
% eligible for free school meals: 11.6%
Pupil mix: 4 in 10 (similar to the Warrington average)
English as an additional language: 18% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 16.9% a year (Warrington 12.6%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 47% moved to another school, 53% 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 Warrington: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 11 (0.8 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 14 (1.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 4 (0.3 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 Warrington, 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: 7.2%
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.

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 –

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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

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.

Attainment 8 score: 50.5
Compared with the area: 1.3 points above the Warrington average (49.2)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (−0.6 points against an expected 51.1)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 74% (Warrington 70%, England 65%) Broadly steady
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 schoolWarrington averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 1.3 points above the Warrington average (49.2).

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 13 secondary schools in Warrington for Attainment 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

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#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

6th of 10 secondary schools in Warrington for Ofsted rating

#4Cardinal Newman Catholic High SchoolGood
#5Culcheth High SchoolGood
#6Great Sankey High SchoolGood
#7Lymm High SchoolGood
#8Padgate 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.

Rank School Score

#1King's Leadership Academy WarringtonOutstanding
#2Beamont Collegiate AcademyGood
#3Bridgewater High SchoolGood
#4Cardinal Newman Catholic High SchoolGood
#5Culcheth High SchoolGood
#6Great Sankey High SchoolGood
#7Lymm High SchoolGood
#8Padgate AcademyGood
#9Penketh High SchoolGood
#10St Gregory's Catholic High SchoolGood

Financials

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)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Warrington: 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 ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered