Alder Community High School
Community school · 912 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.6
Voluntary aided school
St Thomas More RC College
- Pupils on roll
- 797of 780 places
- Free school meals
- 26.5%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 150
- Ofsted
- School remains Good, 30 June 2022Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
St Thomas More RC College has no sixth form. Of the 152 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 49% moved to a sixth form college, 35% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 49% of leavers went to one, roughly three times the England rate of 13%.
German is unusually popular at GCSE: 20% of the year group took it, against 5% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 44.0 against 46.1 across England and 43.6 in Tameside, with 42% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
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 | St Thomas More RC College | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 152 | 2,864 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 93% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 88% | 83% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 2% | 3% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 49% | 36% | 13% |
| — further education college | 35% | 43% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 4% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 6% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 1% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | St Thomas More RC College | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 44.0 | 43.6 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% | 41% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 69% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 36% | 35% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.82 | 3.81 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 29% | 35% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 32.6 | 35.7 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 48.7 | 47.8 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 7% | 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 | 148 | 99% | 88% | 12% | 22% | 81% |
| English Language | 148 | 99% | 89% | 11% | 20% | 61% |
| English Literature | 145 | 97% | 86% | 10% | 21% | 74% |
| Religious Studies | 144 | 96% | 31% | 20% | 32% | 63% |
| Combined Science | 123 | 82% | 65% | 7% | 9% | 58% |
| Geography | 86 | 57% | 41% | 7% | 25% | 52% |
| Art and Design | 41 | 27% | 7% | 29% | 24% | 73% |
| History | 32 | 21% | 41% | 31% | 26% | 72% |
| Design and Technology | 30 | 20% | 11% | 13% | 23% | 67% |
| German | 30 | 20% | 5% | 17% | 33% | 83% |
| French | 25 | 17% | 18% | 24% | 29% | 76% |
| Physical Education | 23 | 15% | 11% | 0% | 24% | 48% |
| Biology | 21 | 14% | 23% | 10% | 45% | 76% |
| Chemistry | 21 | 14% | 23% | 38% | 47% | 81% |
| Physics | 21 | 14% | 23% | 33% | 46% | 81% |
| Computer Science | 18 | 12% | 13% | 11% | 30% | 50% |
| Media Studies | 14 | 9% | 4% | 21% | 20% | 86% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 14 | 9% | 8% | 7% | 21% | 71% |
| Music | 6 | 4% | 5% | 0% | 33% | 0% |
| Drama | 6 | 4% | 7% | 17% | 27% | 83% |
| Polish | 3 | 2% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Chinese | 2 | 1% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Italian | 2 | 1% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
| Arabic | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Studies | 16 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 15 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 10 | — | — |
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.