Altrincham College
Academy converter · sixth form · 973 pupils
88% stayed in education · Attainment 8 48.5
Free schools
North Cestrian School
- Pupils on roll
- 799of 755 places
- Free school meals
- 16.6%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 148
- Ofsted
- Standards maintained, 20 November 2024Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: North Cestrian Grammar School (URN 106380, until 1 September 2016).
What the data says
North Cestrian School has no sixth form. Of the 137 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 12% moved to a sixth form college, 41% to a further education college and 4% started an apprenticeship.
GCSE results in 2025 were well above the national picture: Attainment 8 of 54.2 against 46.1 across England and 57.9 in Trafford, with 60% 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.
As an 11–16 school, North Cestrian School is judged on where pupils go at 16 rather than on A level results.
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 Trafford and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | North Cestrian School | Trafford | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 137 | 3,338 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 92% | 95% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 87% | 92% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 34% | 42% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 12% | 20% | 13% |
| — further education college | 41% | 27% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 3% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 2% | 3% |
| Employment | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 4% | 3% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 4% | 2% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | North Cestrian School | Trafford | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 54.2 | 57.9 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 60% | 64% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 86% | 79% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 19% | 50% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.56 | 5.24 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 21% | 19% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 42.6 | 40.0 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 57.2 | 62.1 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 27% | 18% | 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 | 100% | 88% | 28% | 22% | 87% |
| English Language | 148 | 100% | 89% | 17% | 20% | 84% |
| Religious Studies | 146 | 99% | 31% | 37% | 32% | 75% |
| English Literature | 145 | 98% | 86% | 27% | 21% | 86% |
| Combined Science | 93 | 63% | 65% | 11% | 9% | 80% |
| Geography | 54 | 36% | 41% | 26% | 25% | 80% |
| Chemistry | 50 | 34% | 23% | 80% | 47% | 100% |
| Biology | 50 | 34% | 23% | 48% | 45% | 100% |
| Physics | 50 | 34% | 23% | 54% | 46% | 100% |
| Computer Science | 49 | 33% | 13% | 33% | 30% | 80% |
| Spanish | 46 | 31% | 19% | 24% | 27% | 72% |
| History | 41 | 28% | 41% | 32% | 26% | 66% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 30 | 20% | 8% | 0% | 21% | 50% |
| Psychology | 30 | 20% | 3% | 20% | 22% | 63% |
| Business Studies | 29 | 20% | 18% | 17% | 20% | 100% |
| Music | 25 | 17% | 5% | 24% | 33% | 88% |
| Art and Design | 14 | 9% | 7% | 29% | 24% | 71% |
| Media Studies | 13 | 9% | 4% | 23% | 20% | 77% |
| Chinese | 11 | 7% | 1% | 100% | 75% | 100% |
| Statistics | 10 | 7% | 5% | 60% | 20% | 100% |
| Arabic | 5 | 3% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
| Drama | 5 | 3% | 7% | — | 27% | — |
| French | 1 | 1% | 18% | — | 29% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports / Movement Science | 29 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 19 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 18 | — | — |
| Engineering Studies | 17 | — | — |
Where North Cestrian School is
Other secondary schools in Trafford are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from Trafford’s allocation statistics.
Other secondary schools in Trafford
Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,432 pupils
99% stayed in education · Attainment 8 78.5
Altrincham Grammar School for Girls
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,381 pupils
100% stayed in education · Attainment 8 80.6
Ashton-on-Mersey School
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,609 pupils
90% stayed in education · Attainment 8 52.1
Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College
Voluntary aided school · sixth form · 1,638 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 48.9
Broadoak School
Academy converter · 507 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.4
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.