Penwortham Girls' High School
Cop Lane, Penwortham, Preston, PR1 0SR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Girls
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sharon Hall
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- South Ribble
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 800
- Pupils on roll
- 799
- URN
- 119765
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01772743399
About this school
Penwortham Girls' High School is a girls' community secondary school in Preston. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 799 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Penwortham Girls' 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
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 154 | 159 | 159 |
| Attainment 8 score | 59.5 | 57.5 | 52.9 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.73 +0.50 to +0.95 | +0.57 +0.34 to +0.80 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 69% | 71.7% | 54.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 92% | 86.2% | 74.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 76% | 73.6% | 70.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.1 |
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 Penwortham Girls' 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 | 59.5 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 57.5 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 52.9 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 792 |
| 2023/24 | 801 |
| 2024/25 | 800 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Penwortham Girls' High School compares
Penwortham Girls' High School ranked 14th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 83% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 52.9 | 5.9% | 17.1% | 799 | — |
| Penwortham Priory Academy | 43.2 | 8.7% | 26.1% | 745 | 0.6 miles |
| All Hallows Catholic High School | 55.6 | 5.3% | 9.9% | 911 | 0.8 miles |
| Christ The King Catholic High School | 35.9 | 9.2% | 46.4% | 446 | 1.6 miles |
| Ashton Community Science College | 44.6 | 6.8% | 37.4% | 837 | 1.8 miles |
| Hutton Church of England Grammar School | 50.1 | 6.6% | 14.2% | 807 | 1.8 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)
- 17.13%
- English as an additional language
- 11.1%
- Overall absence
- 5.9%
- Persistent absence
- 15.78%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Penwortham Priory Academy0.6 miles
Secondary · Preston
-
All Hallows Catholic High School0.8 miles
Secondary · Preston
-
Christ The King Catholic High School1.6 miles
Secondary · Preston
-
Ashton Community Science College1.8 miles
Secondary · Preston
-
Hutton Church of England Grammar School1.8 miles
Secondary · Preston
Other schools in Preston
Penwortham Girls' High School ranks 5th of the 22 ranked secondary schools in Preston.
- All Hallows Catholic High School Secondary
- Archbishop Temple Church of England High School Secondary
- Ashton Community Science College Secondary
- Broughton High School Secondary
- Brownedge St Mary's Catholic High School Secondary
- Carr Hill High School Secondary
- Christ The King Catholic High School Secondary
- Corpus Christi Catholic High School Secondary
- Eden Boys' School, Preston Secondary
- Fulwood Academy Secondary
- Garstang Community Academy Secondary
- Hutton Church of England Grammar School Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does Penwortham Girls' High School teach?
- Penwortham Girls' High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Preston.
- Who is the headteacher of Penwortham Girls' High School?
- The headteacher of Penwortham Girls' High School is Mrs Sharon Hall, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Penwortham Girls' High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Penwortham Girls' 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 Penwortham Girls' High School?
- Penwortham Girls' High School has 799 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Penwortham Girls' High School full?
- Penwortham Girls' High School has capacity for 800 pupils and 799 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 Penwortham Girls' High School a faith school?
- No. Penwortham Girls' High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Penwortham Girls' High School a selective school?
- No. Penwortham Girls' High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Penwortham Girls' High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 59.5 in 2022/23 and 52.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Penwortham Girls' High School compare with other schools in Lancashire?
- Penwortham Girls' High School ranked 14th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 83% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Penwortham Girls' High School's absence rate?
- Penwortham Girls' 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 Penwortham Girls' High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Penwortham Girls' 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.