Alder Community High School
Community school · 912 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.6
Voluntary aided school
St Damian's RC Science College
- Pupils on roll
- 829of 825 places
- Free school meals
- 25.9%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 161
- Ofsted
- School remains Outstanding, 7 June 2023Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
St Damian's RC Science College has no sixth form. Of the 174 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 48% moved to a sixth form college, 35% to a further education college and 2% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 48% of leavers went to one, roughly three times the England rate of 13%.
GCSE results in 2025 were well above the national picture: Attainment 8 of 55.1 against 46.1 across England and 43.6 in Tameside, with 61% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Religious Studies is unusually popular at GCSE: 99% of the year group took it, against 31% 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 Tameside and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | This school | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 174 | 2,864 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 95% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 90% | 83% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 6% | 3% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 48% | 36% | 13% |
| — further education college | 35% | 43% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 4% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 1% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | This school | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 55.1 | 43.6 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 61% | 41% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 86% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 73% | 35% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 5.12 | 3.81 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 22% | 35% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 46.5 | 35.7 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 57.5 | 47.8 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 18% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 161 | 100% | 89% | 19% | 20% | 88% |
| Mathematics | 161 | 100% | 88% | 29% | 22% | 89% |
| Religious Studies | 159 | 99% | 31% | 48% | 32% | 87% |
| English Literature | 159 | 99% | 86% | 18% | 21% | 88% |
| Combined Science | 134 | 83% | 65% | 13% | 9% | 76% |
| History | 98 | 61% | 41% | 36% | 26% | 77% |
| Spanish | 76 | 47% | 19% | 32% | 27% | 84% |
| Geography | 57 | 35% | 41% | 28% | 25% | 75% |
| French | 41 | 25% | 18% | 12% | 29% | 51% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 39 | 24% | 8% | 15% | 21% | 72% |
| Chemistry | 24 | 15% | 23% | 79% | 47% | 100% |
| Physics | 24 | 15% | 23% | 71% | 46% | 100% |
| Computer Science | 24 | 15% | 13% | 8% | 30% | 71% |
| Biology | 24 | 15% | 23% | 71% | 45% | 100% |
| Fine Art | 20 | 12% | 9% | 50% | 28% | 100% |
| Polish | 19 | 12% | 1% | 68% | 84% | 89% |
| Music | 13 | 8% | 5% | 38% | 33% | 92% |
| Drama | 7 | 4% | 7% | 0% | 27% | 71% |
| Russian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Italian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Studies | 26 | — | — |
| Building / Construction Operations (General / Combined) | 19 | — | — |
| Childcare Skills | 18 | — | — |
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.