SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Sale, Trafford

Ashton-on-Mersey School

Cecil Avenue, Sale, Cheshire, M33 5BP

Ofsted Good · 2024 Sixth form Full
School website 01619731179

Ofsted

Goodas at 11 April 2024

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 11 April 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

52.1 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

58% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

82% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

64% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.04confidence interval -0.13 to 0.22

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C-
Average points per entry
25.6

England average 32.3

A level students
58

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1609
Places
1570
How full
Full — 1609 pupils against 1570 places
Girls / boys
712 / 897
Overall absence
6%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
12%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
16%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
14%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
16%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
95%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
90%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
36%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
255

After sixth form

Went to university
45%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
65

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

6% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
41%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
64

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Trafford 016C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
55%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
9%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
93%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
1%

England 17%

Households with no car
5%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
45%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE DEAN TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Lee McConaghie
Local authority
Trafford
Ward
Manor
Constituency
Altrincham and Sale West
URN
138123

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Sale Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 76.1 1 mi
Sale High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 1.5 mi
Wellington SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 57.3 1.8 mi
St Antony's Roman Catholic School, a Voluntary AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 42.4 2.1 mi
Dixons Brooklands AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 36.1 2.1 mi
Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school No grade 48.9 2.2 mi
North Cestrian SchoolFree schools No grade 54.2 2.3 mi
Loreto Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 73.7 2.3 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
St Joseph's RC High SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 44.8
The Roseland AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 48.3
South Nottinghamshire AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 51.7
St Thomas More Catholic High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 49.6
St Margaret's Church of England AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 49.6
Thomas Gainsborough SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.1
Hope Valley CollegeAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 44.4
St Mary Redcliffe and Temple SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 54.2

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.