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Priestnall School

Secondary Ages 11-16 1,312 pupils Stockport
Ofsted: Requires Improvement
All schools in Stockport

Priestnall School is an academy converter in Stockport for pupils aged 11 to 16. It has 1,312 pupils on roll. The latest Ofsted rating for Priestnall School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in October 2019 of its predecessor, Priestnall School. In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 55.8, and 68% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Ofsted inspection: September 2023. GCSE results: 2026.

Type Secondary / Academy converter
Age Range 11-16
Religion Does not apply
Address Priestnall Road
Heaton Mersey
Stockport
Cheshire
SK4 3HP
Phone 01615497300
Reference Number 149936

General Makeup

Number of pupils 1312
Boy/Girl ratio Boys: 53.05%
Girls: 46.95%
Percentage of students eligible for free school meals 13.5%
Percentage of students where English is not their first language 12%

Class Sizes

Average size of one teacher classes 25

Year Groups

Year Boys Girls Total
7 144 130 274
8 143 133 276
9 125 136 261
10 141 113 254
11 143 104 247

Ethnicities

Ethnicity Percentage
White, British 75.5%
Pakistani 5.7%
White, Other 3.5%
Mixed, Other 2.8%
Unclassified 1.7%
White & Asian 1.6%
Indian 1.4%
Asian, Other 1.2%
White & Black (Caribbean) 1.1%
White & Black (African) 1.1%
African 1.1%
Irish 0.5%
Chinese 0.3%
Caribbean 0.2%

This school has not been graded since it changed URN, usually on converting to an academy. The rating shown is from its predecessor, Priestnall School, inspected in October 2019.

Overall Ofsted Rating Requires Improvement
Last Report Date This school has not had an inspection yet.
Date Report
06 Sep 2023 Academy conversion letter

Attainment 8 Score

Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:

  • English
  • Maths
  • 3 subjects from qualifications that count towards the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), like sciences, language and history
  • 3 more GCSE qualifications (including EBacc subjects) or technical awards from a list approved by the Department for Education

Each grade a pupil gets is assigned a point score from 9 (the highest) to 1 (the lowest). These scores are added up, with English and maths counted twice.

School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
55.8

GCSE Results

Metric School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Grade 5 or above in English and maths 67.8%
5 or more GCSEs at grade 9-4 (or A-C) 75.1%

Attainment 8 Score

Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:

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GCSE Results

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Year 7 admissions, 2026 entry

Number of Applications Number of Offers
First Preference
Second Preference 85 3
Third Preference 43 0
From another Local Authority 28 1

Previous years

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Places and pupil numbers

In 2024–25 Priestnall School had 1,297 pupils for 1,275 places. That is 22 more pupils than the school has room for.

Pupils and places

Year 7 intake in the “West Secondary” planning area

Stockport counted 1,400 Year 7 pupils in this area in 2024–25 and forecasts 1,339 in 2031–32, down 4%.

20242025
Places 1,2751,275
Pupils 1,2631,297
Unfilled 0.9%0.0%

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 Priestnall School attended 91.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 20.9% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

20242025
Authorised absence 7.0%7.1%
Unauthorised absence 1.2%1.4%
Severely absent pupils 4.9%4.5%

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, 6.9% of pupils at Priestnall School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

20242025
Suspensions per 100 pupils 17.513.9
Permanent exclusions 40

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 Priestnall School had 17.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

202420252026
Pupils per adult 10.510.110.8
Teachers who left state teaching 12.0%6.4%–
Teachers who took any sick leave 66.7%76.5%–
Sick days per teacher 5.75.3–

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, 19.8% of pupils at Priestnall School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 29 pupils.

Pupils by main type of need

SEN support EHC plan
Social, emotional and mental health 104 29
Specific learning difficulty 40 9
Moderate learning difficulty 37 11
Speech, language and communication needs 34 10
Autistic spectrum disorder 18 21
No specialist assessment of need 7 0
Other difficulty or disability 7 0
Physical disability 5 2
Vision impairment 4 2
Hearing impairment 3 1
Severe learning difficulty 0 2
Multi-sensory impairment 1 0

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 Priestnall School received £8,183 and spent £8,180 for each of its 1,285 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £39,000 (-£31 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of The Laurus Trust, income was £8,057 and spending £7,826 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

20242025
Revenue reserve -£51,000-£39,000
per pupil -£40-£31
In-year balance -£511,000£4,000
per pupil -£402£3

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.

Name Distance
Tithe Barn Primary School
Mauldeth Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3NG
0.2 miles
Freshfield Nursery School
42 Mauldeth Road, Stockport, SK4 3NB
0.2 miles
St John's Church of England Primary School
Poplar Street, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3DG
0.33 miles
Didsbury Road Primary School
Didsbury Road, Heaton Mersey, Didsbury Road Primary School, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3HB
0.37 miles
St Winifred's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy
Didsbury Road, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3JH
0.37 miles
Stella Maris School
St John's Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3BR
0.43 miles
Mersey Vale Primary School
Valley Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 2BZ
0.66 miles
Norris Bank Primary School
Green Lane, Heaton Norris, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 2NF
0.69 miles
Green End Primary School
Burnage Lane, Burnage, Manchester, M19 1DR
0.79 miles
St Bernard's RC Primary School Manchester
Burnage Lane, Manchester, M19 1DR
0.81 miles
St Catherine's RC Primary School
School Lane, Didsbury, St Catherines Rc Primary Scho, Manchester, M20 6HS
0.95 miles
Ladybarn Primary School
Briarfield Road, Withington, Manchester, M20 4SR
1.05 miles
St Thomas' Church of England Primary School Heaton Chapel
Wellington Road North, Heaton Chapel, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 4QG
1.15 miles
Beaver Road Primary School
Beaver Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6SX
1.16 miles
Mauldeth Road Primary School
Mauldeth Road, Withington, Manchester, M14 6SG
1.22 miles
St Cuthbert's RC Primary School and Nursery, A Voluntary Academy
Heyscroft Road, Withington, Manchester, M20 4UZ
1.24 miles
Lark Hill Primary School
Northgate Road, Edgeley, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 9PH
1.27 miles
All Saints Church of England Primary School Stockport
Churchill Street, Heaton Norris, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 1ND
1.28 miles
Cheadle Heath Primary School
Edgeley Road, Cheadle Heath, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 0RJ
1.3 miles
Didsbury CofE Primary School
Elm Grove, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6RL
1.3 miles
Name Distance
Burnage Academy for Boys
Burnage Lane, Burnage, Manchester, M19 1ER
0.74 miles
Covenant Christian School
48 Heaton Moor Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 4NX
0.85 miles
The Barlow RC High School
Parrs Wood Road, East Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6BX
0.86 miles
Heaton School
St James Road, Heaton Moor, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 4RE
0.86 miles
Parrs Wood High School
Wilmslow Road, East Didsbury, Manchester, M20 5PG
1.11 miles
St Anne's RC Voluntary Academy
Glenfield Road, Heaton Chapel, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 2QP
1.2 miles
Brinksway School
Yew Street, Stockport, SK4 2HG
1.21 miles
Levenshulme High School
Crossley Road, Levenshulme, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M19 1FS
1.37 miles
Stockport Academy
Heathbank Road, Cheadle Heath, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 0UP
1.4 miles
Progress Schools - Stockport
Belgrave House, 211 Chestergate, Stockport, SK3 0AN
1.43 miles
Manchester Vocational and Learning Academy
19 Albert Road, Manchester, M19 2EQ
1.81 miles
Withington Girls' School
Wellington Road, Manchester, M14 6BL
1.82 miles
Penarth Group School
128 Reddish Road, South Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire, Cheshire, SK5 7JG
1.92 miles
Manchester Enterprise Academy Central
Lytham Road, Levenshulme, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M14 6PL
1.97 miles
Lancasterian School
Elizabeth Slinger Road, West Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2XA
2.15 miles
The Manchester Grammar School
Old Hall Lane, Manchester, M13 0XT
2.21 miles
Manchester High School for Girls
Grangethorpe Road, Manchester, M14 6HS
2.24 miles
Didsbury High School
4 the Avenue, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2ET
2.25 miles
Reddish Vale High School
Reddish Vale Road, Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire, SK5 7HD
2.33 miles
Pear Tree Specialist Support High School
Worcester Road, Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle, Stockport, Greater Manchester, SK8 5NW
2.34 miles

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

Priestnall School is part of The Laurus Trust, which runs 12 schools. The nearest others:

What is Priestnall School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Priestnall School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in October 2019 of its predecessor, Priestnall School.

When was Priestnall School last inspected by Ofsted?

Priestnall School was last inspected in September 2023.

How many pupils does Priestnall School have?

Priestnall School has 1,312 pupils on roll.

What age range does Priestnall School cover?

Priestnall School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Priestnall School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 55.8, and 68% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Priestnall School?

Priestnall School is at Priestnall Road, Heaton Mersey, Stockport, Cheshire, SK4 3HP.

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