Outwood Academy Hindley

About Outwood Academy Hindley

Outwood Academy Hindley sits comfortably above the local authority average on the key measure of academic progress, a fact that will catch the eye of parents in Wigan. Its Progress 8 score of -0.08 is notably higher than the Wigan LA average of -0.3 for secondary schools, meaning pupils here make more progress than the typical student across the borough. This places the school 5th out of 19 secondary schools in Wigan, putting it in the top quarter locally. The school is also oversubscribed, with 275 applications for 172 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, and 168 of those offers went to first-preference families. That level of demand suggests the school has built a solid reputation since its most recent Ofsted inspection in December 2024, which rated it Good across all areas — a significant turnaround from its previous Inadequate rating in March 2020.

Academically, the picture is mixed but broadly positive. The Attainment 8 score sits at 39.8, and just under half of pupils (49.7%) achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths. Progress in English is a real strength, with a Progress 8 score of +0.19, meaning students make nearly a fifth of a grade more progress than the national average in this subject. Maths progress is slightly below average at -0.1, and the EBacc entry rate is relatively low at 29.3%, with only 11.6% of pupils achieving the EBacc at grade 5 or above. The school's Progress 8 banding is rated as 'Average', which aligns with its national ranking in the 55th percentile. For context, the top-performing local school, St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School, achieves a Progress 8 score of 0.16, so Hindley is not far off the pace for a non-selective state school.

The school caters for 921 pupils aged 11 to 16, with a capacity of 935, and has a higher-than-average proportion of students eligible for free school meals at 34%. It offers a broad range of facilities including science labs, music rooms, an astro turf pitch, and a sports hall, with clubs covering everything from the Duke of Edinburgh's Award to film club and young enterprise. SEND provision is well-documented, supporting conditions from dyslexia and autism to speech and language needs. Parent feedback is strong: 78% would recommend the school, and 84% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy. The school is a good fit for families who want a solid, improving local secondary with strong English outcomes and a clear focus on behaviour and personal development, as reflected in its Good Ofsted ratings for both areas.

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