Congleton High School

About Congleton High School

Congleton High School sits within the Cheshire East local authority, a mixed secondary state school for pupils aged 11 to 18. In the LA’s Progress 8 rankings, it places 16th out of 21 schools, putting it in the bottom half of its local peers. For context, the top-performing schools in the area include The Fallibroome Academy, Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College, and Poynton High School, all of which achieve significantly higher Progress 8 scores. Congleton’s own Progress 8 score of -0.47 is well below the Cheshire East average of -0.17, meaning pupils here make less academic progress than the typical student across the authority. The school is led by headteacher Heidi Thurland and has a capacity of 1,236 pupils, with 1,211 currently on roll. Its most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in February 2023, confirmed the school remains Good, a rating it has held consistently since its last graded inspection in December 2014.

Academically, the school’s results reflect a mixed picture. At Key Stage 4, the Attainment 8 score sits at 41.7, and 58.2% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, though this drops to 39.8% at the stronger grade 5 threshold. The EBacc average point score is 3.8, with 73% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. However, the Progress 8 banding is rated as below average, and the school’s ranking nationally places it in the bottom 50% of schools. At Key Stage 5, the picture is similar: the value added score is -0.22, also classed as below average, and the average points per entry is 27.81, equating to a grade of C-. The best three A-levels average out at a C- grade, and only 4.3% of entries achieved AAB or higher. The sixth form provision was rated Good in the most recent graded inspection.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a Sixth Form Centre, art studios, playing fields, a gymnasium, astro turf, and a dining hall. Sports on offer include rugby, rowing, athletics, gymnastics, dance, hockey, and martial arts, while clubs such as Young Enterprise, Model UN, orchestra, debate, and choir provide enrichment. Congleton has a comprehensive set of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. For the 2025/26 intake, the school was oversubscribed: 325 applications were received for 211 places, with 177 first-preference offers made from 178 first-preference applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.54. This suggests strong local demand, and the school may suit families who value a large, inclusive secondary with a Good Ofsted rating and a wide extracurricular offer, but who are comfortable with academic outcomes that sit below the LA average.

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