Alder Community High School
Community school · 912 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.6
Academy sponsor led
Rayner Stephens High School
- Pupils on roll
- 635of 831 places
- Free school meals
- 47.2%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 142
- Ofsted
- Report card, 21 April 2026Read the Ofsted report
Curriculum and teaching Needs attentionAchievement Needs attentionAttendance and behaviour Expected standardPersonal development and wellbeing Expected standardInclusion Expected standardLeadership and governance Expected standardPost-16 provision Not applicableSafeguarding Met
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Rayner Stephens High School (URN 144622, until 1 January 2021).
What the data says
Rayner Stephens High School has no sixth form. Of the 108 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 16% moved to a sixth form college, 62% to a further education college and 5% started an apprenticeship.
GCSE results in 2025 were well below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 35.6 against 46.1 across England and 43.6 in Tameside, with 30% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Languages are a small part of the curriculum here: entries in Spanish add up to 10% of the year group, and 16% of pupils entered the full EBacc set of subjects (England 41%).
As an 11–16 school, Rayner Stephens High School is judged on where pupils go at 16 rather than on A level results.
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 Tameside and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Rayner Stephens High School | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 108 | 2,864 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 87% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 79% | 83% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 0% | 3% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 16% | 36% | 13% |
| — further education college | 62% | 43% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 4% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 9% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 4% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Rayner Stephens High School | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 35.6 | 43.6 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 30% | 41% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 47% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 16% | 35% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.05 | 3.81 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 51% | 35% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 29.6 | 35.7 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 41.9 | 47.8 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 21% | 15% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 138 | 97% | 88% | 11% | 22% | 50% |
| English Language | 138 | 97% | 89% | 10% | 20% | 57% |
| English Literature | 123 | 87% | 86% | 12% | 21% | 64% |
| Combined Science | 98 | 69% | 65% | 5% | 9% | 48% |
| Geography | 58 | 41% | 41% | 9% | 25% | 52% |
| History | 45 | 32% | 41% | 11% | 26% | 49% |
| Design and Technology | 27 | 19% | 11% | 7% | 23% | 67% |
| Chemistry | 25 | 18% | 23% | 24% | 47% | 72% |
| Biology | 25 | 18% | 23% | 24% | 45% | 72% |
| Physics | 25 | 18% | 23% | 24% | 46% | 72% |
| Religious Studies | 21 | 15% | 31% | 38% | 32% | 57% |
| Fine Art | 16 | 11% | 9% | 6% | 28% | 63% |
| Spanish | 14 | 10% | 19% | 29% | 27% | 71% |
| Italian | 3 | 2% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
| Polish | 2 | 1% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Chinese | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Bengali | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 35% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Urdu | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hospitality / Catering Studies | 32 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 24 | — | — |
| Small Business Management | 20 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 19 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 17 | — | — |
| Speech and Drama | 13 | — | — |
Where Rayner Stephens High School is
Other secondary schools in Tameside are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from Tameside’s allocation statistics.
Other secondary schools in Tameside
All Saints Catholic College
Academy converter · 810 pupils
85% stayed in education · Attainment 8 37.5
Audenshaw School
Academy converter · 1,077 pupils
88% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.5
Denton Community Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,107 pupils
73% stayed in education
Dixons Ashton Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,326 pupils
80% stayed in education · Attainment 8 38.1
Dixons Pennine Academy
Academy converter · 592 pupils
75% stayed in education · Attainment 8 35.8
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.