Alder Community High School
Community school · 912 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.6
Academy converter
Fairfield High School for Girls
- Pupils on roll
- 986of 975 places
- Free school meals
- 37.7%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 196
- Ofsted
- Good, 6 December 2022Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Fairfield High School for Girls (URN 106275, until 1 April 2011).
What the data says
Fairfield High School for Girls has no sixth form. Of the 190 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 45% moved to a sixth form college, 42% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 45% of leavers went to one, roughly three times the England rate of 13%.
German is unusually popular at GCSE: 28% of the year group took it, against 5% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were above the national picture: Attainment 8 of 52.7 against 46.1 across England and 43.6 in Tameside, with 58% 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 | This school | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 190 | 2,864 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 96% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 93% | 83% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 3% | 3% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 45% | 36% | 13% |
| — further education college | 42% | 43% | 37% |
| — other education | 4% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 3% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 1% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | This school | Tameside | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 52.7 | 43.6 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 58% | 41% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 79% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 61% | 35% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.84 | 3.81 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 29% | 35% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 50.5 | 35.7 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 53.5 | 47.8 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 20% | 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 | 196 | 100% | 89% | 26% | 20% | 80% |
| Mathematics | 196 | 100% | 88% | 21% | 22% | 82% |
| English Literature | 191 | 97% | 86% | 35% | 21% | 90% |
| Combined Science | 165 | 84% | 65% | 12% | 9% | 65% |
| Geography | 104 | 53% | 41% | 30% | 25% | 78% |
| History | 84 | 43% | 41% | 38% | 26% | 74% |
| Religious Studies | 65 | 33% | 31% | 49% | 32% | 89% |
| French | 63 | 32% | 18% | 33% | 29% | 79% |
| German | 55 | 28% | 5% | 20% | 33% | 80% |
| Art and Design | 47 | 24% | 7% | 23% | 24% | 79% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 47 | 24% | 8% | 15% | 21% | 62% |
| Physics | 29 | 15% | 23% | 52% | 46% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 29 | 15% | 23% | 59% | 47% | 100% |
| Biology | 29 | 15% | 23% | 52% | 45% | 100% |
| Physical Education | 27 | 14% | 11% | 11% | 24% | 56% |
| Computer Science | 21 | 11% | 13% | 48% | 30% | 81% |
| Drama | 20 | 10% | 7% | 20% | 27% | 90% |
| Chinese | 5 | 3% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Urdu | 4 | 2% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
| Spanish | 2 | 1% | 19% | — | 27% | — |
| Statistics | 1 | 1% | 5% | — | 20% | — |
| Arabic | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
| Design and Technology | 1 | 1% | 11% | — | 23% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Business Management | 65 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 62 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 19 | — | — |
| Art and Design | 16 | — | — |
| Tourism | 13 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 8 | — | — |
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.