Lostock Hall Academy

About Lostock Hall Academy

Lostock Hall Academy’s headline Progress 8 score sits at exactly zero, which is a touch above the Lancashire local authority average of -0.11 for secondary schools. That might not sound like a huge gap, but it means pupils here are making broadly the progress you’d expect nationally, while the typical school in the county is slightly below that benchmark. In a local authority with 90 secondary schools and only eight rated Outstanding, a solid Good rating and a neutral Progress 8 score put Lostock Hall in a respectable middle ground. It ranks 30th out of those 90 schools on Progress 8, and 6th out of 11 schools within South Ribble itself. The school’s Attainment 8 score of 46.5 is decent, and the basics measure — the proportion of pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs — comes in at 47 per cent, which is a reasonable benchmark for a non-selective state school.

Digging into the Progress 8 breakdown reveals some interesting variation. English is a real strength, with a Progress 8 score of +0.31, meaning pupils gain nearly a third of a grade more per subject than similar pupils nationally. Maths is also positive at +0.08. The weaker areas are the EBacc subjects and the open bucket, both slightly negative at -0.15 and -0.09 respectively. Only 26.8 per cent of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects, and just 10.7 per cent achieved a grade 5 or above in it — well below the national ambition. The school’s EBacc average point score of 3.98 reflects this. Still, the overall Progress 8 banding is ‘Average’, and the school has held a Good Ofsted rating since its 2014 graded inspection, with an ungraded visit in 2022 confirming it remains Good. That’s a marked improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2013.

Lostock Hall is a mixed 11-16 secondary without a sixth form, so families will need to plan for post-16 options elsewhere. It’s heavily oversubscribed: for 150 places in 2025/26, there were 443 applications, with 160 first-preference applications and 136 first-preference offers — a ratio of nearly three applicants per place. The school has a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, theatre, astro turf, and a chapel, plus clubs like Young Enterprise and debate. SEND provision is extensive, covering dyslexia, autism, speech and language needs, and physical disabilities among others. With 17.3 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, it serves a fairly typical state-school demographic. This is a solid, well-regarded local option for families in South Ribble who want a school that delivers good progress in English and maths, though those aiming for strong EBacc outcomes may want to look at the top-performing schools nearby.

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