Local authority · North West
Tameside has 21 secondary schools in this dataset — 18 state-funded and 3 independent. 4 have a religious character; 5 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.18 (average) — 0.17 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 13 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.98 to +0.60. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.95 first preferences per place — the same as the national median. 7 of the 16 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 8.6% for the typical school here, below the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairfield High School for GirlsAcademy converter | +0.60well above average | +0.34 to +0.762023–24 | 56.3 | 0.80× | Good |
| 2 | Laurus RyecroftFree schools | +0.53well above average | +0.50 to +0.962023–24 | 51.0 | 1.36× | Outstanding |
| 3 | St Damian's RC Science CollegeVoluntary aided school | +0.35above average | +0.02 to +0.462023–24 | 54.0 | 1.21× | Outstanding (ungraded) |
| 4 | Droylsden AcademyAcademy sponsor led | +0.26above average | -0.07 to +0.352023–24 | 48.2 | 1.10× | Good (ungraded) |
| 5 | St Thomas More RC CollegeVoluntary aided school | +0.20above average | +0.20 to +0.662023–24 | 49.2 | 1.31× | Good (ungraded) |
| 6 | Audenshaw SchoolAcademy converter | -0.04average | -0.25 to +0.142023–24 | 45.4 | 0.94× | Good |
| 7 | Alder Community High SchoolCommunity school | -0.18average | -0.48 to -0.072023–24 | 45.6 | 1.28× | Requires improvement |
| 8 | West Hill SchoolAcademy converter | -0.25below average | -0.53 to -0.082023–24 | 46.2 | 1.25× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 9 | All Saints Catholic CollegeAcademy converter | -0.42below average | -0.85 to -0.372023–24 | 40.6 | 0.86× | Good (Concerns) (ungraded) |
| 10 | Longdendale High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.54well below average | -0.75 to -0.322023–24 | 43.6 | 0.91× | — |
| 11 | Dixons Ashton AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.62well below average | -0.74 to -0.372023–24 | 36.2 | 0.76× | — |
| 12 | Dixons Pennine AcademyAcademy converter | -0.82well below average | -1.16 to -0.652023–24 | 35.5 | 0.68× | Good |
| 13 | Rayner Stephens High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.98well below average | -1.29 to -0.772023–24 | 34.0 | 0.81× | Needs attention (achievement) |
4 of the 12 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Fairfield High School for Girls's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 2 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Ashlea House School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| Ashton Sixth Form College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Denton Community Academy | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Hyde High School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Mossley Hollins High School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Safe Start School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Tameside College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Trinity School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Tameside for 2026 entry was Laurus Ryecroft at 1.36 first preferences per place — 270 families named it first for 198 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Tameside on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Tameside you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.