tutorperch
First Tutors closed Read guide

State secondary schools in Cheshire East

23 schools · North West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Cheshire East has 23 state secondaries, 16 of them with sixth forms. 93.1% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 0% to 67.5% passing English and maths, a spread of 68 points, with a middle school at 43.5%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 14 Good, 1 Requires improvement. 8 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

23 schools in Cheshire East. Tap one, or see the full list.
0% 68% passed English & maths

Cheshire East against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

45%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

in line with England

England 45%

47.1

Attainment 8 average score

in line with England

England 46.1

19%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

2.3% below England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Cheshire East

93.1%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

98.2%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

30%

Appeals upheld8 of 27 heard

These are figures for Cheshire East as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Cheshire East's 23 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 0% to 68%. That is a spread of 68 percentage points, wider than most councils.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Cheshire East schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathsenglish languageenglish literaturecombined sciencehistoryartgeographyphysicschemistrybiologydesign technologycomputer sciencephysical educationreligious studiesbusiness studiesspanishfrenchgerman
  1. 1 Alsager School Stoke-on-Trent · 59 entries 100%
  2. 2 Congleton High School Congleton · 22 entries 100%
  3. 3 Sandbach School Sandbach · 59 entries 100%
  4. 4 Wilmslow High School Wilmslow · 82 entries 99%
  5. 5 Eaton Bank Academy Congleton · 29 entries 97%
  6. 6 St Thomas More Catholic High School Crewe · 49 entries 96%
  7. 7 Poynton High School Stockport · 46 entries 96%
  8. 8 All Hallows Catholic College Macclesfield · 63 entries 95%
  9. 9 The Fallibroome Academy Macclesfield · 61 entries 95%
  10. 10 Malbank School and Sixth Form College Nantwich · 46 entries 93%
  11. 11 Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School Crewe · 91 entries 92%
  12. 12 Knutsford Academy Knutsford · 64 entries 92%
  13. 13 The Macclesfield Academy Macclesfield · 33 entries 91%
  14. 14 Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College Sandbach · 49 entries 90%
  15. 15 Brine Leas School Nantwich · 77 entries 88%
  16. 16 Middlewich High School Middlewich · 34 entries 85%
  17. 17 Tytherington School Macclesfield · 105 entries 85%
  18. 18 Shavington Academy Shavington · 28 entries 82%
  19. 19 Sir William Stanier School Crewe · 35 entries 43%
biology tutors

Parent guides

Thinking about a tutor?

Every school in Cheshire East

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

3 of 22 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Cheshire East

16 of Cheshire East's 16 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Cheshire East

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Cheshire West and Chester 20 schools · 42% passed English & mathsDerbyshire 45 schools · 43% passed English & mathsManchester 32 schools · 41% passed English & mathsShropshire 20 schools · 37% passed English & mathsStaffordshire 56 schools · 40% passed English & mathsStockport 14 schools · 49% passed English & mathsTrafford 19 schools · 64% passed English & mathsWarrington 13 schools · 48% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.