Oulder Hill Leadership Academy

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy is performing well overall, with inspectors judging it good across the key areas of quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This was its first section 5 inspection, and the report notes that the school has taken effective action since joining Star Academies; the predecessor school had previously been judged inadequate. Pupils describe a harmonious, welcoming and respectful community, and they behave well in a calm and orderly environment. The school has an ambitious and logically ordered curriculum in most subjects, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are now well supported. Reading provision, personal development, careers education and extra-curricular opportunities are strengths, and safeguarding is effective. The main areas for improvement are around consistency in teaching: some teachers do not use the school's agreed learning strategies or assessment checks as effectively as intended, which can leave gaps in pupils' knowledge. In a very small number of subjects, staffing instability had slowed curriculum embedding, but the report says this has recently been resolved.

Strengths

• A harmonious, welcoming and respectful school culture where pupils feel free to be themselves.
• Calm and orderly environment with pupils who behave well and value school routines.
• Strong emphasis on service and leadership, including pupil-led clubs and community projects.
• Trust support has built leadership expertise and driven improvement, including rapid increases in attendance.
• An ambitious, logically ordered curriculum in most subjects.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and create purposeful classrooms where learning is rarely disrupted.
• Greatly strengthened SEND provision, with needs identified swiftly and pupils learning well alongside peers.
• Effective reading support, including the Star Readers challenge and targeted help for pupils who struggle.
• Good personal development, with tolerance, extracurricular opportunities and a careers programme preparing pupils for life beyond school.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Some teachers do not use the school's agreed learning strategies effectively enough, so some pupils do not embed learning securely.
• Some teachers do not use assessment strategies effectively to identify and address gaps and misconceptions promptly.

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 Oulder Hill Leadership Academy attended 91.4% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.4% 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, 2.3% of pupils at Oulder Hill Leadership Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 5 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 Oulder Hill Leadership Academy had 18.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.0% 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, 14.2% of pupils at Oulder Hill Leadership Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.5% 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 Oulder Hill Leadership Academy received £9,174 and spent £9,133 for each of its 1,171 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £2,557,000 (£2,183 per pupil).

Across all 36 schools of Star Academies, income was £8,430 and spending £8,333 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 Rochdale · Rochdale local authority: places and applications

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy is part of Star Academies, which runs 36 schools. The nearest others:

• Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School Rossendale
• The Valley Leadership Academy Bacup
• Star Radcliffe Academy Radcliffe
• The Olive School, Manchester Manchester
• Eden Girls' Leadership Academy, Manchester Manchester
• Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Manchester Manchester
• Eden Boys' School, Bolton Bolton
• The Olive School, Bolton Bolton
• Star Salford Academy Worsley
• Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School Blackburn

What is Oulder Hill Leadership Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Oulder Hill Leadership Academy is Good, from an inspection in February 2025.

When was Oulder Hill Leadership Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy was last inspected in February 2025.

How many pupils does Oulder Hill Leadership Academy have?

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy has 1,152 pupils on roll.

What age range does Oulder Hill Leadership Academy cover?

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Oulder Hill Leadership Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.8, and 51% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Oulder Hill Leadership Academy?

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy is at Hudsons Walk, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL11 5EF.