Pleckgate High School Review 2026: Outstanding Blackburn secondary with high expectations and a structured day

At a school where the motto is Aspire and Believe, Act and Succeed, ambition is not left to chance. The most recent graded inspection (5 and 6 June 2024) judged Pleckgate High School to be Outstanding overall, with Outstanding in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

Pleckgate is a mixed 11 to 16 secondary, sized for scale. Ofsted’s published data shows a roll of roughly 1,350 students against a capacity of 1,350, so it operates at full stretch. The school is part of the Education Partnership Trust, which brings shared oversight and a trust-wide approach to improvement.

For families, the headline question is usually fit. Pleckgate presents as a calm, orderly, high-expectations environment, with explicit attention to literacy, behaviour, and personal development. The experience is not built around a sixth form, so the transition at 16 matters, and the school’s careers and next steps guidance becomes a key part of the offer.

Pleckgate’s strongest theme, supported by formal external evaluation, is that routines and relationships are purposeful. Students are expected to move calmly between lessons, and the school’s culture is framed around high academic expectations alongside respectful conduct.

The tone is also explicitly inclusive. The 2024 inspection report describes an environment where students learn the importance of kindness and respect, and where discrimination is not tolerated. That matters in a large school, because consistency is what prevents corridors, social times, and transitions from becoming flashpoints.

Leadership context is clear and current. The headteacher is Aishling McGinty, and governing documents published by the school show her headteacher appointment date as 01 September 2022. That places the latest Outstanding judgement firmly within the tenure of the current headteacher, which is helpful for parents trying to understand whether the headline judgement reflects today’s school rather than a legacy position.

There is also a deliberate focus on removing barriers. The 2024 inspection record highlights a determination that students, including those with special educational needs and or disabilities, should benefit from the wider life of the school rather than being quietly excluded from it. In practice, that usually shows up in how clubs are organised, how trips are subsidised, and how staff respond to attendance or behaviour dips before they become entrenched patterns.

Pleckgate’s GCSE outcomes sit in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile), based on the FindMySchool ranking banding. In the FindMySchool GCSE ranking (based on official data), Pleckgate is ranked 2,239th in England and 10th among Blackburn secondary schools for GCSE outcomes.

The performance picture, using the latest available dataset here, looks like this:

• Attainment 8 score: 44

• Progress 8 score: -0.01

• Average EBacc APS: 3.93

• Percentage achieving grade 5 or above in the EBacc: 14.3%

Interpreting those figures for parents: a Progress 8 score close to zero usually indicates progress that is broadly in line with the national benchmark for pupils with similar starting points, while Attainment 8 gives a sense of overall grades across a student’s best subjects. The EBacc indicators suggest that the EBacc route is present, but the share of students reaching the grade 5 threshold within that measure is relatively modest, so families with a strong preference for the full EBacc suite should look carefully at subject entry patterns and options.

A practical note on evidence: the school publishes its own results headlines on its website, but rankings and exam performance metrics in this review are drawn from the dataset provided here, as required by the methodology.

The strongest verified statement about teaching at Pleckgate is that the curriculum is deliberately designed, sequenced, and revisited, with teaching focused on spotting misconceptions early and correcting them before they settle. That tends to correlate with classrooms where explanation, modelling, and checking for understanding are routine rather than occasional.

Literacy support is treated as a whole-school priority rather than a marginal intervention. The inspection report describes prompt identification of reading gaps, structured support, and regular opportunities for reading enjoyment, including tutor read-aloud and book-focused discussion in the library. If your child arrives with fragile reading confidence, that systematic approach is often more important than any single headline GCSE metric.

Curriculum breadth is reinforced by how the inspection team evaluated the school. Deep dives included English, history, mathematics, modern foreign languages, physical education and science. That mix suggests leadership attention across both academic and practical disciplines, rather than a narrow focus on a small subset of departments.

Pleckgate educates students through to Year 11, with no sixth form. That means every student makes a post-16 transition, usually into a sixth form college, a school sixth form elsewhere, further education, or an apprenticeship route, depending on fit and grades.

What is clear from the 2024 inspection record is that students receive timely careers guidance about next steps and future pathways, including technical education and apprenticeships, and the school meets the provider access requirements for Years 8 to 11. For parents, the implication is that post-16 planning should start earlier than Year 11, because the school’s structure assumes movement at 16, and strong destinations depend on good choices as well as good grades.

If you are shortlisting, ask specifically how the school supports:

• Year 9 options decision-making, because it shapes GCSE breadth

• Work experience or employer encounters, if available for your year group

• Application support for colleges and apprenticeships, including interviews and personal statements

Those are the practical levers that tend to determine whether an 11 to 16 school feels like a smooth runway into the next stage.

Pleckgate’s published admission number is 270 for Year 7. Applications are coordinated through the local authority process, with the school reminding families that all applications are considered equally and that oversubscription criteria apply when applications exceed places.

For the September 2026 Year 7 intake, the school’s admissions page states that applications opened on 4 September 2025 and closed on 31 October 2025. If you are applying in a future cycle, that September to October window is the pattern to expect, with exact dates published each year by the local authority and the school.

Open events sit in the same seasonal rhythm. The Blackburn with Darwen open events listing included Pleckgate High School on Thursday 11 September 2025, 5pm to 8pm. In most years, open evenings run in September for Year 6 families, so it is sensible to treat early autumn as the period to watch for booking information.

Demand is a recurring theme. A published school brochure referenced 464 applications for 270 places in the September 2022 admissions cycle. Application volumes vary year to year, but this example indicates that competition can be meaningful, so families should apply with a realistic spread of preferences.

FindMySchool tip: if distance becomes relevant in your local authority’s oversubscription criteria, use the FindMySchoolMap Search to check your home-to-school distance precisely, then compare it to historic patterns where published by the authority.

Pastoral systems at Pleckgate are built around routine contact and clear roles. A published parent FAQ document describes a structure in which each year group has a Head of Year, and students are allocated a form tutor they see daily. That daily tutor check-in is often where small problems get dealt with before they become attendance issues or behaviour conflicts.

The wellbeing offer is also visible in how the school communicates. School letters and information pages reference pastoral support and a wellbeing team, and the inspection report confirms a safeguarding culture judged effective.

A practical implication for families is that pastoral strength shows most clearly when a child wobbles, not when everything is going well. When you visit or speak to the school, ask what happens first when attendance drops, anxiety rises, or friendship difficulties surface, and how quickly parents are involved. Those answers tell you more than any generic statement about care.

Pleckgate’s extracurricular programme is unusually easy to evidence because the school publishes timetables with named clubs and locations.

Academic and enrichment clubs

The 2025 to 2026 extracurricular timetable lists, among others, Debate Club, Chess Club, Science Club, Computer Science club, and a Further Maths class. The implication is that students who enjoy academic stretch can find structured extension, while students who are still building confidence have accessible entry points such as chess, debate, or eco-focused activity.

Sport and activity

On the same timetable, students can access netball across year groups, football in multiple year bands, badminton, and table tennis, with sessions running at lunch and after school. Facilities marketed for lettings include a full size 3G all-weather pitch, a large indoor sports hall, an activity studio, and a drama studio. For sporty students, that mix supports both competitive fixtures and casual participation, while also giving less confident students space to try activities without high stakes.

Leadership, service, and outdoor challenge

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a visible strand. The school publishes information about the programme and has shared examples of Bronze awards activity, including hiking and camping expeditions. For many teenagers, DofE is less about the certificate and more about building resilience, teamwork, and self-management outside the usual classroom dynamics.

The school day is clearly set out in published year-group materials. Students arrive by 8.20am, tutor time begins at 8.30am, and the day ends at 2.40pm in the published routine. Breakfast club is listed from 7.30am.

Transport is also addressed directly. The school bus service is provided by a local transport provider, has limited places, and the school’s published cost is £2.75 per day return.

• No sixth form. Every student transfers at 16. For many students this is a positive fresh start, but it does mean families should pay close attention to post-16 guidance and local college options well before Year 11.

• Competition for Year 7 places can be real. The published admission number is 270, and the school has previously referenced application volumes that exceed that figure. Families should plan preferences carefully and avoid relying on a single outcome.

• EBacc outcomes are not the central headline in the available data. If your child is aiming for a highly academic EBacc-heavy pathway, ask how EBacc entries are decided and how languages are supported through Key Stage 4.

• Finish time may require planning for some households. A 2.40pm end to the day is helpful for after-school sport and enrichment, but it can be awkward for working patterns unless your child can access clubs, transport, or family support.

Pleckgate High School is a large, full-capacity 11 to 16 school with a clear, evidence-supported culture of high expectations, calm conduct, and strong personal development. The most recent inspection confirms Outstanding standards across all graded areas, alongside effective safeguarding and a curriculum designed for secure long-term learning.

Best suited to families who want a structured, orderly environment with strong behaviour norms, systematic literacy support, and a well-organised range of clubs and activities. The main decision point is how your child will handle the post-16 transition, and whether the EBacc and options structure aligns with their interests and plans.