Bedford High School
Manchester Road, Leigh, WN7 2LU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Paul McCaffery
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Leigh and Atherton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,210
- Pupils on roll
- 1,111
- URN
- 106523
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01942909009
About this school
Bedford High School is a community secondary school in Leigh. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,111 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Bedford High School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 212 | 200 | 207 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.0 | 42.8 | 45.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.73 -0.93 to -0.54 | -0.24 -0.44 to -0.05 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 27% | 41% | 47.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 56% | 61.5% | 69.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 18% | 46% | 55.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.2 | 3.8 | 4.1 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Bedford High School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Wigan average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 37 | 36.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42.8 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 45.5 | 36.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,081 |
| 2023/24 | 1,097 |
| 2024/25 | 1,101 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bedford High School compares
Bedford High School ranked 9th of 19 secondary schools in Wigan for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 59% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 11% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45.5 | 9% | 38.2% | 1,111 | — |
| St Mary's Catholic High School | 44.2 | 8.7% | 20% | 1,537 | 1.1 miles |
| Fred Longworth High School | 45.9 | 8% | 23.5% | 1,283 | 1.5 miles |
| Atherton High School | 39.3 | 8.9% | 47.2% | 561 | 1.9 miles |
| The Westleigh School | 36.4 | 10.2% | 44.8% | 976 | 2.1 miles |
| Lowton Church of England High School | 47.5 | 8.9% | 27.8% | 814 | 2.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 38.24%
- English as an additional language
- 11.4%
- Overall absence
- 9.02%
- Persistent absence
- 25.24%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Mary's Catholic High School1.1 miles
Secondary · Manchester
-
Fred Longworth High School1.5 miles
Secondary · Manchester
-
Atherton High School1.9 miles
Secondary · Atherton
-
The Westleigh School2.1 miles
Secondary · Leigh
-
Lowton Church of England High School2.6 miles
Secondary · Warrington
Other schools in Leigh
- The Westleigh School Secondary
- Bedford Hall Methodist Primary School Primary
- Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington Primary
- Gilded Hollins Community School Primary
- Leigh Central Primary School Primary
- Leigh CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh St John's CofE Primary Primary
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh St Peter's CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh Westleigh Methodist Primary School Primary
- Newton Westpark Primary School Primary
- Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Bedford High School teach?
- Bedford High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Leigh.
- Who is the headteacher of Bedford High School?
- The headteacher of Bedford High School is Mr Paul McCaffery, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Bedford High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bedford High School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Bedford High School?
- Bedford High School has 1,111 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Bedford High School full?
- Bedford High School has capacity for 1,210 pupils and 1,111 on roll (92%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Bedford High School a faith school?
- No. Bedford High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Bedford High School a selective school?
- No. Bedford High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Bedford High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37 in 2022/23 and 45.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bedford High School compare with other schools in Wigan?
- Bedford High School ranked 9th of 19 secondary schools in Wigan for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 59% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 11% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bedford High School's absence rate?
- Bedford High School's overall absence rate is 9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bedford High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bedford High School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.