Falinge Park High School

About Falinge Park High School

Falinge Park High School holds a Good rating from Ofsted, and its academic story is best told through its Progress 8 score, which measures how much pupils improve between the end of primary school and their GCSEs. The school’s Progress 8 score sits at -0.03, meaning pupils achieve almost exactly what would be expected nationally. That might sound modest, but in the context of Rochdale it is a strong result: the local authority average Progress 8 score is -0.25, so Falinge Park is performing well above the typical school in the area. In fact, the school ranks third out of eleven secondary schools in Rochdale on this metric, placing it in the top third locally. Nationally, it sits around the middle of the pack, ranking 1,603rd out of 3,141 schools. This suggests a school that is reliably delivering solid progress for its pupils, particularly when compared with its immediate neighbours.

Looking at the full set of GCSE outcomes, 52.1 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths, a figure that rises to 32.5 per cent when using the more demanding grade 5 threshold. The school’s Attainment 8 score, which averages a pupil’s best eight GCSEs, is 40.8, and the EBacc average point score is 3.27. Only 12.8 per cent of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects, and just 6 per cent achieved a grade 5 or above across all five EBacc components. Breaking down Progress 8 by subject area, the school performs best in the ‘open’ category (which includes arts, humanities and vocational subjects) with a score of +0.23, while English and maths are close to the national average at -0.09 and -0.05 respectively. The EBacc element is the weakest area at -0.25, which aligns with the low entry rate. Overall, the school’s Progress 8 banding is rated as ‘Average’, confirming a consistent, if not spectacular, performance.

Falinge Park is a large secondary school with 1,359 pupils aged 11 to 16, and it is non-denominational. The site is well equipped with a library, art studios, music rooms, an ICT suite, a gymnasium, sports hall, swimming pool, playing fields and an astro turf pitch. Sports on offer include football, rugby, basketball, athletics, rounders and swimming, and there is a wide range of clubs such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, drama, debate, choir, orchestra, coding and science club. The school is oversubscribed in the local context, ranking third in Rochdale, so parents should be aware that places are competitive. This is a school that suits families looking for a solid, above-average academic experience within the local authority, with good facilities and a broad extracurricular offer. The headteacher is Paula O’Reilly, and the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection judged it Good overall, with no outstanding schools in the same local authority for comparison.

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