Atherton High School
Free schools · 561 pupils
89% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.3
Community school
Cansfield High School
- Pupils on roll
- 974of 1,012 places
- Free school meals
- 28.9%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 215
- Ofsted
- Good, 12 June 2024Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
Cansfield High School has no sixth form. Of the 184 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 33% moved to a sixth form college, 43% to a further education college and 10% started an apprenticeship.
Apprenticeships are a real route from here: 10% of leavers started one, roughly three times the England figure of 3%.
Photography is unusually popular at GCSE: 48% of the year group took it, against 6% of pupils across England.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 33% of leavers went to one, roughly twice the England rate of 13%.
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Wigan and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Cansfield High School | Wigan | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 184 | 3,620 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 94% | 91% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 76% | 82% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 0% | 6% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 33% | 33% | 13% |
| — further education college | 43% | 41% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 10% | 5% | 3% |
| Employment | 8% | 4% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 5% | 7% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 1% | 2% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Cansfield High School | Wigan | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 44.4 | 43.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% | 39% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 61% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 40% | 30% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.82 | 3.73 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 27% | 28% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 38.9 | 33.5 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 46.5 | 47.2 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 2% | 8% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 215 | 100% | 89% | 12% | 20% | 68% |
| Mathematics | 215 | 100% | 88% | 12% | 22% | 69% |
| English Literature | 214 | 100% | 86% | 7% | 21% | 73% |
| Combined Science | 198 | 92% | 65% | 5% | 9% | 53% |
| History | 183 | 85% | 41% | 10% | 26% | 53% |
| Photography | 104 | 48% | 6% | 23% | 19% | 91% |
| Religious Studies | 82 | 38% | 31% | 17% | 32% | 73% |
| Art and Design | 79 | 37% | 7% | 3% | 24% | 80% |
| Geography | 55 | 26% | 41% | 11% | 25% | 65% |
| German | 45 | 21% | 5% | 7% | 33% | 60% |
| French | 45 | 21% | 18% | 27% | 29% | 78% |
| Physics | 12 | 6% | 23% | 92% | 46% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 12 | 6% | 23% | 42% | 47% | 100% |
| Biology | 12 | 6% | 23% | 58% | 45% | 100% |
| Portuguese | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 50% | — |
| Polish | 1 | 0% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Studies | 90 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 61 | — | — |
| Hospitality / Catering Studies | 46 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 21 | — | — |
| Beauty Care / Services | 1 | — | — |
Other secondary schools in Wigan
Bedford High School
Community school · 1,111 pupils
74% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.5
Dean Trust Rose Bridge
Academy sponsor led · 692 pupils
73% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.7
Dean Trust Wigan
Academy sponsor led · 715 pupils
74% stayed in education · Attainment 8 33.1
Fred Longworth High School
Academy converter · 1,283 pupils
82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.9
Golborne High School
Foundation school · 1,144 pupils
79% stayed in education · Attainment 8 50.1
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.