Rayner Stephens High School

Rayner Stephens High School is a smaller-than-average secondary school in Dukinfield, part of the Stamford Park Trust, serving a community with a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils and above-average deprivation. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors found attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing to be at the expected standard, while achievement and curriculum and teaching need attention. Leaders have made clear progress in several areas. Attendance and persistent absence have improved sharply, with overall attendance now close to the national average, and pupils generally behave well in calm lessons. Inclusion is a notable strength: pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils are identified and supported, mid-year arrivals settle quickly, and the personal development programme, careers education and extra-curricular offer are well regarded. Staff feel well supported, and governance and trust oversight are effective. The main concern is that pupils' outcomes at the end of key stage 4 are too low, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Teaching and assessment do not consistently deepen pupils' understanding or close gaps in knowledge, and some lesson tasks lack ambition. Leaders should embed high-quality teaching across the school, ensure assessment is used effectively to address missed learning, and sustain recent improvements in attendance.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met through an open and positive culture.
• Attendance and persistent absence have improved sharply, with overall attendance close to national average.
• Pastoral support helps pupils who were often absent to attend and access education.
• Pupils behave well, lessons are calm and disruption is minimal.
• Bullying and discrimination are rare and dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Pupils with SEND are identified well and teaching is adapted to support their access to the curriculum.
• Disadvantaged pupils receive additional support that has improved attendance and achievement.
• Pupils who join mid-year are welcomed and most quickly feel part of the school community.
• Trustees, governors and leaders understand the school and drive improvement.
• Staff benefit from a comprehensive professional development programme and feel well supported.
• The personal development programme builds strong knowledge of healthy relationships and mutual respect.
• Careers education and work experience prepare pupils well for education, employment or training.
• Extra-curricular opportunities, trips and guest speakers broaden pupils' experiences.
• Effective support helps pupils who fall behind in reading and numeracy to catch up.
• Almost all pupils continue into education, employment or training after key stage 4.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils' results in national examinations at the end of key stage 4 are too low.
• Pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, typically underachieve by the end of key stage 4.
• Pupils do not generally produce work of high enough quality in lessons and their understanding sometimes lacks depth.
• Teachers do not use assessment effectively to close gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Some tasks set by teachers do not reflect the ambition of the curriculum well enough.
• Support for pupils to access learning is not provided consistently well across the school.
• Pupils' knowledge of citizenship and fundamental British values is less secure.
• Recent improvements in attendance need to be sustained so rates remain in line with expectations.

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 Rayner Stephens High School attended 86.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 36.5% 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, 13.7% of pupils at Rayner Stephens High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were 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 Rayner Stephens High School had 15.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.3% 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, 18.9% of pupils at Rayner Stephens High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.7% 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 Rayner Stephens High School received £9,756 and spent £9,387 for each of its 628 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £4,000 (£6 per pupil).

Across all 4 schools of Stamford Park Trust, income was £7,264 and spending £7,263 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 Dukinfield · Tameside local authority: places and applications

Rayner Stephens High School is part of Stamford Park Trust, which runs 4 schools. The nearest others:

• Ashton Sixth Form College Ashton-Under-Lyne
• Longdendale High School Hyde
• Fairfield High School for Girls Manchester

What is Rayner Stephens High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Rayner Stephens High School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Rayner Stephens High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Rayner Stephens High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Rayner Stephens High School have?

Rayner Stephens High School has 635 pupils on roll.

What age range does Rayner Stephens High School cover?

Rayner Stephens High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Rayner Stephens High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 35.1, and 23% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Rayner Stephens High School?

Rayner Stephens High School is at Yew Tree Lane, Dukinfield, Cheshire, SK16 5BL.