Broughton High School

About Broughton High School

Broughton High School is a state secondary in Preston that is clearly in high demand among local families. For the 2025/26 admissions cycle, the school received 860 applications for just 177 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 4.86. Of those applications, 271 were first-preference choices, and 167 of those first-preference families were offered a place. That level of competition suggests a strong local reputation, and the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022 awarded it an Outstanding rating across every category — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. It had also been rated Outstanding in its previous inspection back in 2012, so this is a school with a sustained track record. With 926 pupils on roll against a capacity of 900, the school is running slightly over capacity, which fits with its popularity.

Academically, Broughton delivers results that are well above the local average. Its Progress 8 score of 0.55 is classified as ‘well above average’ nationally, and compares very favourably with the Lancashire local authority average of -0.11. That means pupils here make significantly more progress than their peers across the region. The Attainment 8 score sits at 56.2, and 85.3% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths. The EBacc average point score is 5.12, with 51.4% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. In the North West, Broughton ranks 45th out of 445 schools on Progress 8, placing it in the top 11% regionally, and 444th nationally out of 3,141 schools. Within Preston, it ranks 4th out of 11 schools on the same measure.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including science labs, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a sports hall, an astro turf pitch, a theatre, and music rooms. Sports on offer include football, rugby, cricket, swimming, hockey, cross country, and martial arts, while clubs cover drama, choir, debate, chess, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, and Young Enterprise. SEND provision is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech and language needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. There is no sixth form — the school runs from age 11 to 16 — so families will need to plan for post-16 options elsewhere. Broughton suits families who want a high-performing, oversubscribed local school with strong academic outcomes and a wide extracurricular offer, but who are comfortable with the competitive admissions process.

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