Dean Trust Rose Bridge

Dean Trust Rose Bridge, part of The Dean Trust, is a welcoming, safe and caring secondary school where staff build strong relationships with pupils and families. Behaviour is a notable strength: pupils understand the school's high expectations, the atmosphere is calm and orderly, and incidents of poor behaviour or bullying are dealt with quickly. Attendance has improved and behaviour has improved dramatically. Personal development and leadership are also strong, with a wide range of enrichment, effective careers guidance, effective safeguarding, and effective trust support and challenge. The main area for improvement is the quality of education. The school has introduced more ambitious curriculums, but they are new and unevenly developed, and delivery is not consistently coherent over time. Assessment strategies exist but are not used well enough to identify and address gaps before pupils move on, so many pupils do not remember key knowledge securely or achieve as well as they should. Pupils with SEND are identified more effectively, but not all teachers use that information to adapt their teaching. Reading support is a clear strength, and the school is working to embed improvements, but it is too early to see the full impact.

Strengths

• Welcoming, safe and caring environment with strong staff-pupil relationships
• Calm and orderly atmosphere with high expectations for behaviour
• Poor behaviour and bullying are dealt with quickly and effectively
• Broad curriculum meets pupils' needs and interests, including those with SEND
• Wide range of enrichment, charity work, international travel and mentoring
• Strong reading support helps pupils catch up and read with confidence
• Attendance has improved and behaviour has improved dramatically
• Strong personal development and well-planned careers guidance
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Trustees provide effective support and challenge, and staff feel well supported

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent because new curriculums are unevenly developed
• Teachers do not consistently use assessment to check pupils' knowledge before moving on
• Many pupils have gaps in knowledge and do not achieve as well as they should
• Not all teachers use SEND information effectively to adapt curriculum delivery
• Pupils with SEND do not access the curriculum as well as they should
• Some curriculums are more developed than others, hindering coherent learning over time
• It is too early to see the impact of recent curriculum improvement work

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Dean Trust Rose Bridge attended 91.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 3.3% of pupils at Dean Trust Rose Bridge were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Dean Trust Rose Bridge had 15.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 19.7% of pupils at Dean Trust Rose Bridge were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Dean Trust Rose Bridge received £9,001 and spent £8,869 for each of its 699 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £562,000 (£804 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of The Dean Trust, income was £8,955 and spending £9,005 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Wigan · Wigan local authority: places and applications

Dean Trust Rose Bridge is part of The Dean Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Dean Trust Wigan Wigan
• Forest Gate Academy Manchester
• Partington Central Academy Manchester
• Broadoak School Manchester
• Lord Derby Academy Liverpool
• Park View Academy Liverpool
• Blacklow Brow School Liverpool
• Ashton-on-Mersey School Sale
• Abraham Moss Community School Manchester
• Dean Trust Ardwick Manchester

What is Dean Trust Rose Bridge's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Dean Trust Rose Bridge is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Dean Trust Rose Bridge last inspected by Ofsted?

Dean Trust Rose Bridge was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Dean Trust Rose Bridge have?

Dean Trust Rose Bridge has 692 pupils on roll.

What age range does Dean Trust Rose Bridge cover?

Dean Trust Rose Bridge for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Dean Trust Rose Bridge's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 38.9, and 34% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Dean Trust Rose Bridge?

Dean Trust Rose Bridge is at Holt Street, Ince, Wigan, Greater Manchester, WN1 3HD.