SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Chester, Cheshire West and Chester

Upton-by-Chester High School

St James Avenue, Upton-by-Chester, Chester, Cheshire, CH2 1NN

Sixth form Full
School website 01244259800

Ofsted

Standards maintained at the last ungraded inspection, on 5 February 2025.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

48.8 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

43% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

67% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

36% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the upper half 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 better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.36confidence interval 0.19 to 0.52

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as 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.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C+
Average points per entry
34.5

England average 32.3

A level students
152

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1728
Places
1670
How full
Full — 1728 pupils against 1670 places
Girls / boys
852 / 876
Overall absence
6%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
14%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
17%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
87%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
57%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
278

After sixth form

Went to university
61%

England 50%

In education, work or training
85%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
174

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

30% 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
72%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
126

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 Cheshire West and Chester 027E, 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
39%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
15%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
80%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
11%

England 17%

Households with no car
16%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
45%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Foundation school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Lee Cummins
Ward
Upton
Constituency
Chester North and Neston
URN
111422

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The HammondOther independent school No grade 0.6 mi
The Queen's SchoolOther independent school No grade 2 mi
Chester International SchoolStudio schools Good 2022 34.5 2 mi
The Bishops' Blue Coat Church of England High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 53.8 2.1 mi
Queen's Park High SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 44.2 2.2 mi
Christleton High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 54.8 2.6 mi
The Catholic High School, ChesterAcademy converter No grade 46.7 2.7 mi
Blacon High School, A Specialist Sports CollegeFoundation school No grade 33.2 2.8 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
King James's SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 46.1
Uffculme SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.8
Lavington SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 50.3
Oakgrove SchoolAcademy converter No grade 54.7
Chelmer Valley High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 45.3
The Arthur Terry SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 55.4
The South Wolds Academy & Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 53.5
Teddington SchoolAcademy converter No grade 56.5

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.