Bury Church of England High School
Academy converter · 802 pupils
93% stayed in education · Attainment 8 49.1
Academy sponsor led
The Heys School
- Pupils on roll
- 546of 860 places
- Free school meals
- 44.7%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 111
- Ofsted
- Good, 25 June 2024Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Prestwich Arts College (URN 105362, until 31 March 2020).
What the data says
The Heys School has no sixth form. Of the 142 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 39% moved to a sixth form college, 43% to a further education college and none started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 39% of leavers went to one, roughly three times the England rate of 13%.
GCSE results in 2025 were well below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 34.0 against 46.1 across England and 43.4 in Bury, with 17% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Art and Design is unusually popular at GCSE: 24% of the year group took it, against 7% of pupils across England.
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 Bury and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | The Heys School | Bury | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 142 | 2,219 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 87% | 93% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 85% | 88% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 2% | 2% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 39% | 41% | 13% |
| — further education college | 43% | 44% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 1% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 8% | 5% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 5% | 2% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | The Heys School | Bury | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 34.0 | 43.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 17% | 39% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 33% | 62% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 31% | 28% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 2.88 | 3.78 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 55% | 28% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 31.3 | 33.4 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 37.4 | 47.4 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 32% | 17% | 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 | 111 | 100% | 89% | 5% | 20% | 48% |
| Mathematics | 111 | 100% | 88% | 5% | 22% | 37% |
| English Literature | 111 | 100% | 86% | 1% | 21% | 60% |
| Combined Science | 83 | 75% | 65% | 5% | 9% | 17% |
| History | 77 | 69% | 41% | 3% | 26% | 18% |
| Business Studies | 55 | 50% | 18% | 5% | 20% | 25% |
| Computer Science | 38 | 34% | 13% | 8% | 30% | 26% |
| Geography | 35 | 32% | 41% | 17% | 25% | 34% |
| Biology | 28 | 25% | 23% | 14% | 45% | 64% |
| Chemistry | 28 | 25% | 23% | 7% | 47% | 57% |
| Physics | 28 | 25% | 23% | 7% | 46% | 64% |
| Art and Design | 27 | 24% | 7% | 4% | 24% | 44% |
| French | 24 | 22% | 18% | 17% | 29% | 54% |
| Drama | 18 | 16% | 7% | 17% | 27% | 61% |
| Physical Education | 16 | 14% | 11% | 0% | 24% | 31% |
| Urdu | 6 | 5% | 1% | 33% | 42% | 67% |
| Arabic | 6 | 5% | 1% | 33% | 47% | 67% |
| Russian | 2 | 2% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Portuguese | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 50% | — |
| Persian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 77% | — |
| Polish | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Italian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hospitality / Catering Studies | 49 | — | — |
| Tourism | 25 | — | — |
| Multimedia | 23 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 18 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 10 | — | — |
Other secondary schools in Bury
Hazel Wood High School
Academy sponsor led · 671 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 35.7
Manchester Mesivta School
Voluntary aided school · sixth form · 233 pupils
93% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.3
Parrenthorn High School
Academy converter · 1,025 pupils
90% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.5
Philips High School
Academy converter · 868 pupils
88% stayed in education · Attainment 8 50.3
St Gabriel's RC High School, a Voluntary Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,027 pupils
91% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.0
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.