North Cestrian School
Secondary · Free schools · Mixed · Trafford
Dunham Road, Altrincham, WA14 4AJ
79
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Standards maintained
No graded inspection
Application demand
67%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
92.1%
21.2% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
799
Capacity used
Over capacity106%
755 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
67%
1st preference success rate
104 of 156 families who put it first got an offer
176
Places offered
1088
Total applications
6.2
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 156 | 104 | ● 67% |
| 2nd preference | 276 | 44 | ● 16% |
| 3rd preference | 263 | 13 | ● 5% |
| Later preferences (4th–5th) | 393 | 15 | ● 4% |
| Total | 1088 | 176 | 16% |
1st preference success by year
Trafford lets families list 5 preferences. 56 applications came from outside the council area (1 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- M Dore
- Address
- Dunham Road, Altrincham, WA14 4AJ
- Phone
- 01619281856
- Local authority
- Trafford
- Ward / constituency
- Altrincham · Altrincham and Sale West
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 143104
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 17% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 27% | — | — |
| SEN support | 10% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 1 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: THE HAMBLIN EDUCATION TRUST
799 pupils · 755 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
20 November 2024
Ungraded inspection
Standards maintained
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 815 pupils
Attendance
92.1%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
7.9%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
21.2%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.5%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 55.0 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.49 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 56% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 74% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.76 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 54.2 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 60.1% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 85.8% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 18.9% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.56 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 148 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 148 | 28% | 70% | 87% | |
| English Language | 148 | 17% | 65% | 84% | |
| Religious Studies | 146 | 37% | 66% | 75% | |
| English Literature | 145 | 27% | 67% | 86% | |
| Combined Science | 93 | 11% | 58% | 80% | |
| Geography | 54 | 26% | 69% | 80% | |
| Biology | 50 | 48% | 98% | 100% | |
| Physics | 50 | 54% | 100% | 100% | |
| Chemistry | 50 | 80% | 100% | 100% | |
| Computer Science | 49 | 33% | 67% | 80% | |
| Spanish | 46 | 24% | 43% | 72% | |
| History | 41 | 32% | 56% | 66% |
Oxbridge
No Cambridge applications recorded for this school in 2020–2025.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Trafford council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.