The importance of the secondary school years to a young person’s education shouldn’t be understated. Their school will not only be responsible for coaching them through their GCSEs, but guiding them through a tumultuous time of growth and change.
Excellent secondary schools can be found spanning the entire Lancashire county, from high-performing faith schools, to elite grammar schools, to comprehensive community schools in centres like Preston, Lancaster, Blackpool and Blackburn, which shine no less brightly. But its plentiful offerings mean that choosing the right one for your child is no easy feat for families.
We’ve created a league table ranking state-funded secondary schools from across the Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council, and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council areas, using their most recently-available ‘Progress 8’ scores (currently for the 2022/23 school year, until this year’s data has been finalised and published).
This is a unique figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements, which helps the government to determine how quickly students at any particular school are learning and progressing compared to their peers from similar primary schools nationwide. Any score above 0 is positive, and we’ve selected only schools with a score of at least 0.20 or above, usually classed as ‘above average’.
All schools on the list also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding ’before this measure was recently dropped. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and student safeguarding were all found to either meet or exceed government standards last time the school was inspected.
Here were the 19 Lancashire secondary schools that made the grade:
1. Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School
Tauheedal is an Islamic girls’ secondary school in Blackburn. Although it is an Islamic faith school, it welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. Tauheedal had an exceptionally high Progress 8 score of 2.30, making it 'well above average'. This incredible score isn't due to having a low number of students either, with upwards of 700 girls on its roll. | Google
2. Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School
Just like its counterpart, this is an Islamic secondary school in Blackburn - this one for boys. It too welcomes applicants of other faiths, and was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, it had a very high Progress 8 Score of 1.47 - classified as well above average. | Google
3. Preston Muslim Girls High School
This is an Islamic girls’ secondary school in Preston. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 academic year, it had an exceptional Progress 8 score of 1.15 - putting it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
4. Eden Boys' School
Eden is an Islamic boys’ secondary school, also in Preston. It too was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 academic year, it had a great Progress 8 score of 0.97 - putting it too in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
5. Penwortham Girls' High School
This is a girls’ secondary school in Penwortham, just south of Preston. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 academic year, it had a high Progress 8 score of 0.73 - earning it a spot in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
6. Lancaster Royal Grammar School
This is a selective Christian boys' secondary school, with a coeducational sixth form, in Lancaster. As a selective school, pupils usually need to pass an exam or meet certain criteria to earn a place. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 academic year, it had a high Progress 8 score of 0.67 - marking it as ‘well above average’. | Google