Girls secondary school in Preston, Lancashire
Penwortham Girls' High School
Cop Lane, Penwortham, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 0SR
Ofsted
Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 21 May 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.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
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
Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 799
- Places
- 800
- How full
- Nearly full — 799 of 800 places taken
- Overall absence
- 6%
- Persistently absent
- 16%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 17%
- English as an additional language
- 11%
- With an EHC plan
- 3%
- On SEN support
- 8%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 93%
- Stayed in education
- 90%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 0%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 5%
- No sustained destination
- 6%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 154
England 91.4%
England 85.4%
England 3.5%
England 5.8%
A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year. 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 South Ribble 001D, 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
- 41%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 12%
- Households owning their home
- 85%
- Households in social housing
- 6%
- Households with no car
- 16%
- Adults economically inactive
- 41%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Community school
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–16
- Gender
- Girls
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Sharon Hall
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Ward
- Howick & Priory
- Constituency
- South Ribble
- URN
- 119765
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penwortham Priory AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 43.2 | 0.6 mi |
| All Hallows Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | Outstanding 2023 | 55.6 | 0.8 mi |
| Christ The King Catholic High SchoolAcademy sponsor led | Inadequate 2022 | 35.9 | 1.6 mi |
| Abrar AcademyOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.8 mi |
| Ashton Community Science CollegeCommunity school | Good 2023 | 44.6 | 1.8 mi |
| Hutton Church of England Grammar SchoolVoluntary aided school | No grade | 50.1 | 1.8 mi |
| Eden Boys' School, PrestonFree schools | Outstanding 2024 | 49.8 | 1.9 mi |
| Preston Muslim Girls High SchoolVoluntary aided school | Outstanding 2022 | 56.2 | 2.1 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.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Golborne High SchoolFoundation school | Outstanding 2023 | 50.1 |
| Henry Beaufort SchoolCommunity school | Good 2023 | 50.5 |
| Millfield Science & Performing Arts CollegeCommunity school | Good 2022 | 48.5 |
| St Aidan's Catholic AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 51.2 |
| The Suthers SchoolFree schools | Good 2024 | 46.4 |
| Winterstoke Hundred AcademyFree schools | Good 2023 | 40.1 |
| Coloma Convent Girls' SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 57.4 |
| 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.