Co-op Academy Failsworth

About Co-op Academy Failsworth

Co-op Academy Failsworth has turned a corner, according to its most recent Ofsted inspection. In June 2024, the school was rated Good overall, a clear step up from its Requires Improvement judgement in December 2021. Every category — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management — was graded Good. That improvement story is backed up by the school's Progress 8 score, which is the single most telling exam metric for a secondary school. Failsworth's Progress 8 score sits at -0.3, meaning pupils leave with just under a third of a grade less per subject than the national average. That places it 9th out of 12 schools in Oldham local authority, and in the bottom 50% nationally. For context, the local authority average Progress 8 score is -0.13, so the school is performing below the typical Oldham school, but the Ofsted upgrade suggests momentum is building.

Looking deeper at the 2023/24 results, the Attainment 8 score is 42.3, which is the average grade pupils achieve across their best eight subjects. Just over half of pupils (54.5%) achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, though that drops to 33.8% for a grade 5 or above. The English Baccalaureate entry rate is low at 16.4%, and only 6.9% of pupils entered the full EBacc achieved a grade 4 or above. Breaking down Progress 8 by subject area, English is the weakest at -0.54, while maths is -0.4 and the EBacc bucket is -0.47. The open element — which includes subjects like arts and vocational qualifications — is essentially flat at 0.02, suggesting that pupils perform broadly in line with expectations in those non-core areas. The school ranks 279th out of 445 schools in the North West region.

With 1,428 pupils on roll and a capacity of 1,500, the school is near full and oversubscribed for 2025/26: 425 applications for 309 places, with 273 first-preference offers made. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is high at 44.2%, well above the national average. Facilities are strong for a state secondary, including a theatre, music rooms, science labs, a sixth form centre (though the school itself doesn't run a sixth form), and extensive sports provision with tennis courts, an astro turf, playing fields, and a sports hall. Clubs include Model UN, DofE, coding, and a newspaper club. SEND support is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and physical disabilities. This is a school that has clearly improved its quality under headteacher Rebecca Shaw, and while academic outcomes still lag the local average, the Ofsted Good rating and strong facilities make it a solid option for families in Oldham who want a large, inclusive secondary with a broad extracurricular offer.

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