Secondary
Waterhead Academy
Huddersfield Road, Oldham, OL4 3NY
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 761 of 1500 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 15.6
- Local authority
- Oldham
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 72.4
- All staff (FTE)
- 113.5
- Pupils per adult
- 9.9
- Pupils
- 1,128
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected January 2025
- Behaviour and attitudesRequires improvement
- Leadership and governanceRequires improvement
- Personal developmentGood
- Quality of educationRequires improvement
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)Earlier inspections2
October 2022
Previous framework
Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudesInadequate
- Leadership and governanceInadequate
- Personal developmentRequires improvement
- Quality of educationInadequate
April 2019
Previous framework
Requires improvement
- Leadership and governanceRequires improvement
GCSE results
22%
15 points below the Oldham average (37% across 10 schools)
34.0
9.7 below the Oldham average (43.7 across 10 schools)
10th of 10 by our score, among the secondary schools in Oldham we can score - 21 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 34 |
| EBacc average point score | 2.98 |
| Entered the EBacc | 43% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 39% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 22% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 21% |
| 22/23 | 18% |
| 23/24 | 23% |
| 24/25 | 22% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | -0.89 |
| 22/23 | -0.75 |
| 23/24 | -0.72 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 33.4 |
| 22/23 | 33.1 |
| 23/24 | 33.9 |
| 24/25 | 34.0 |
Huddersfield Road, Oldham, OL4 3NY
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Oldham admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Principal
- Tracy Foy
- Address
- Huddersfield Road, Oldham, OL4 3NY
- Telephone
- 01616205859