New Mills School
Church Lane, New Mills, High Peak, SK22 4NR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Heather Watts
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- High Peak
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 750
- Pupils on roll
- 692
- URN
- 112936
- Local authority
- Derbyshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01663743284
About this school
New Mills School is a community secondary school in High Peak. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 692 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected New Mills School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. 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 | 132 | 127 | 123 |
| Attainment 8 score | 44.1 | 49.6 | 44.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.11 -0.36 to +0.13 | +0.18 -0.07 to +0.44 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 37% | 48.8% | 30.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 63% | 65.4% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 30% | 23.6% | 30.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 4.1 | 3.8 |
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 New Mills 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 | Derbyshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 44.1 | 41.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 49.6 | 41.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.5 | 40.9 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 670 |
| 2023/24 | 660 |
| 2024/25 | 680 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How New Mills School compares
New Mills School ranked 21st of 45 secondary schools in Derbyshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 55% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.5 | 8.1% | 28.4% | 692 | — |
| Marple Hall School | — | — | — | 1,590 | 4.4 miles |
| Chapel-en-le-Frith High School | 43.8 | 7.9% | 24.6% | 941 | 4.5 miles |
| Poynton High School | 53 | 7.2% | 10% | 1,467 | 5.0 miles |
| St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary Academy | 40.5 | 8.7% | 29.4% | 577 | 5.4 miles |
| Harrytown Catholic High School | 40.6 | 9.8% | 32% | 792 | 5.5 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)
- 28.38%
- English as an additional language
- 4%
- Overall absence
- 8.1%
- Persistent absence
- 19.88%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Marple Hall School4.4 miles
Secondary · Stockport
-
Chapel-en-le-Frith High School4.5 miles
Secondary · High Peak
-
Poynton High School5.0 miles
Secondary · Stockport
-
St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary Academy5.4 miles
Secondary · Glossop
-
Harrytown Catholic High School5.5 miles
Secondary · Stockport
Other schools in High Peak
- Chapel-en-le-Frith High School Secondary
- New Mills Nursery School Nursery
- Buxworth Primary School Primary
- Chapel-en-le-Frith CofE VC Primary School Primary
- Furness Vale Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Hague Bar Primary School Primary
- Hayfield Primary School Primary
- New Mills Primary School Primary
- St George's CofE Primary School Primary
- St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy Primary
- Taxal and Fernilee CofE Primary School Primary
- Thornsett Primary School (High Peak Federation) Primary
Common questions
- What ages does New Mills School teach?
- New Mills School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in High Peak.
- Who is the headteacher of New Mills School?
- The headteacher of New Mills School is Mrs Heather Watts, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has New Mills School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected New Mills 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 New Mills School?
- New Mills School has 692 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is New Mills School full?
- New Mills School has capacity for 750 pupils and 692 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 New Mills School a faith school?
- No. New Mills School has no designated religious character.
- Is New Mills School a selective school?
- No. New Mills School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have New Mills School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 44.1 in 2022/23 and 44.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does New Mills School compare with other schools in Derbyshire?
- New Mills School ranked 21st of 45 secondary schools in Derbyshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 55% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is New Mills School's absence rate?
- New Mills School's overall absence rate is 8.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are New Mills School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, New Mills 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.