Local authority · North West
Wigan has 22 secondary schools in this dataset. 7 have a religious character; 5 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.26 (below average) — 0.25 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 19 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -1.38 to +0.14. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.99 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 9 of the 19 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 9.1% for the typical school here, above 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 | Golborne High SchoolFoundation school | +0.14average | -0.25 to +0.142023–24 | 52.3 | 1.18× | Outstanding |
| 2 | St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, Ashton-in-MakerfieldVoluntary aided school | +0.10average | -0.02 to +0.342023–24 | 51.1 | 1.11× | Strong standard (achievement) |
| 3 | Standish Community High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.05average | -0.24 to +0.102023–24 | 54.1 | 0.90× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 4 | Lowton Church of England High SchoolFoundation school | -0.10average | -0.39 to +0.062023–24 | 48.2 | 0.89× | Good |
| 5 | St Peter's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.13average | -0.31 to +0.072023–24 | 53.3 | 1.20× | Good |
| 6 | Fred Longworth High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.20average | -0.47 to -0.112023–24 | 47.8 | 1.10× | Good (ungraded) |
| 7 | Atherton High SchoolFree schools | -0.20average | -0.32 to +0.312023–24 | 41.2 | 0.99× | Good |
| 8 | Outwood Academy HindleyAcademy sponsor led | -0.22below average | -0.29 to +0.132023–24 | 41.2 | 0.98× | — |
| 9 | Cansfield High SchoolCommunity school | -0.24below average | -0.75 to -0.352023–24 | 47.4 | 0.78× | Good |
| 10 | The Byrchall High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.26below average | -0.57 to -0.222023–24 | 46.0 | 1.26× | Good |
| 11 | Shevington High SchoolCommunity school | -0.28below average | -0.39 to +0.032023–24 | 47.8 | 1.08× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 12 | St Mary's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.31below average | -0.38 to -0.022023–24 | 46.7 | 1.02× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 13 | Hawkley Hall High SchoolAcademy converter | -0.34below average | -0.33 to +0.052023–24 | 44.3 | 0.93× | — |
| 14 | The Deanery Church of England High School and Sixth Form CollegeVoluntary aided school | -0.38below average | -0.49 to -0.132023–24 | 43.9 | 1.12× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 15 | Bedford High SchoolCommunity school | -0.45below average | -0.44 to -0.052023–24 | 40.7 | 0.89× | Good |
| 16 | St John Fisher Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | -0.63well below average | -0.78 to -0.382023–24 | 42.5 | 1.04× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 17 | The Westleigh SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.70well below average | -1.04 to -0.592023–24 | 37.3 | 0.82× | Good |
| 18 | Dean Trust Rose BridgeAcademy sponsor led | -0.79well below average | -0.85 to -0.352023–24 | 38.0 | 0.65× | — |
| 19 | Dean Trust WiganAcademy sponsor led | -1.38well below average | -1.35 to -0.892023–24 | 30.9 | 0.79× | Requires improvement |
13 of the 18 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Golborne High School'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. 9 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.
| St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| Wigan and Leigh College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Winstanley College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
The most sought-after school in Wigan for 2026 entry was The Byrchall High School at 1.26 first preferences per place — 315 families named it first for 250 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 Wigan 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 Wigan you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.