Westhoughton High School

Community school·Secondary school Bolton·BL5 3BZ
Composite score
55.5
Compare Westhoughton High School with another school
#1,824
National rank
#220
In North West
#13
In Bolton
Top 58%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
44.4
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
40%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
60%
% EBacc grade 5+
4%
EBacc average points score
3.62

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Requires improvement
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
221 first choices, 258 places
First choices per place
0.86
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
369
any preference, for 258 places
Applications from another council area
24%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.12
00.511.5
1 per place
1.1120221.0420230.8820240.9820250.862026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Westhoughton High School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–16
Pupils on roll
1,338
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
24.5%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
5.3%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
9.3%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.2%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
10.5%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
30.7%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.5
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,283
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
91%
247 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
83%
Apprenticeship
5%
Employment
3%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

Westhoughton High School at a glance

Located in Bolton, Westhoughton High School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a community school. The school educates roughly 1,338 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Requires improvement' at its most recent inspection. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 44.4, broadly in line with the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 1.3 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

40% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 60% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Westhoughton High School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 221 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 91% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 10.5%. There are about 16.5 pupils per teacher. If you are considering Westhoughton High School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

Compare Westhoughton High School with another school