Whitworth Community High School
Hall Street, Hallford, Rochdale, OL12 8TS
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Andrew Oliver
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 709
- Pupils on roll
- 654
- URN
- 119753
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01706343218
About this school
Whitworth Community High School is a community secondary school in Rochdale. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 654 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 22 March 2023, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 130 | 125 | 123 |
| Attainment 8 score | 49.1 | 43.8 | 50.3 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.22 -0.02 to +0.47 | -0.08 -0.33 to +0.17 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 50% | 33.6% | 63.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 76% | 62.4% | 79.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 13% | 16% | 13% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.1 | 3.7 | 4.2 |
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 Whitworth Community 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 | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 49.1 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.8 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 50.3 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 658 |
| 2023/24 | 655 |
| 2024/25 | 651 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Whitworth Community High School compares
Whitworth Community High School ranked 18th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 77% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 41% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50.3 | 5.9% | 24.4% | 654 | — |
| Falinge Park High School | — | 10.3% | 45.8% | 1,344 | 2.3 miles |
| Wardle Academy | 44.1 | 9% | 29.9% | 1,366 | 2.5 miles |
| Oulder Hill Leadership Academy | 44.4 | 8.6% | 38.5% | 1,152 | 2.8 miles |
| The Valley Leadership Academy | 32.6 | 15.4% | 46.9% | 578 | 3.5 miles |
| Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School | 73.3 | 4.6% | 7.9% | 1,087 | 3.6 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)
- 24.42%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 5.87%
- Persistent absence
- 17.7%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Falinge Park High School2.3 miles
Secondary · Rochdale
-
Wardle Academy2.5 miles
Secondary · Rochdale
-
Oulder Hill Leadership Academy2.8 miles
Secondary · Rochdale
-
The Valley Leadership Academy3.5 miles
Secondary · Bacup
-
Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School3.6 miles
Secondary · Rossendale
Other schools in Rochdale
Whitworth Community High School ranks 2nd of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Rochdale.
- Falinge Park High School Secondary
- Hollingworth Academy Secondary
- Kingsway Park High School Secondary
- Matthew Moss High School Secondary
- Oulder Hill Leadership Academy Secondary
- St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy Secondary
- Wardle Academy Secondary
- Howard Street Nursery School Nursery
- Alice Ingham Roman Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Primary
- All Saints Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ashfield Valley Primary School Primary
- Belfield Community School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Whitworth Community High School teach?
- Whitworth Community High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Rochdale.
- Who is the headteacher of Whitworth Community High School?
- The headteacher of Whitworth Community High School is Mr Andrew Oliver, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Whitworth Community High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Whitworth Community 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 big is Whitworth Community High School?
- Whitworth Community High School has 654 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Whitworth Community High School full?
- Whitworth Community High School has capacity for 709 pupils and 654 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 Whitworth Community High School a faith school?
- No. Whitworth Community High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Whitworth Community High School a selective school?
- No. Whitworth Community High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Whitworth Community High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 49.1 in 2022/23 and 50.3 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Whitworth Community High School rank locally?
- Whitworth Community High School ranked 18th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 77% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 41% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Whitworth Community High School's absence rate?
- Whitworth Community High School's overall absence rate is 5.9% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Whitworth Community High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Whitworth Community 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 30 June 2026.