Kingsway Park High School Review 2026: Big-school energy, tightening standards, and clear next steps

A large 11 to 16 secondary serving the Kingsway area of Rochdale, Kingsway Park High School sits on Turf Hill Road and operates at close to full capacity, with around 1,320 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,330. The school is an academy within the Altus Education Partnership, which provides governance and school improvement support across the trust.

This is a state-funded school with no tuition fees. The day-to-day experience is shaped less by cost and more by the practical realities of a big intake, a broad curriculum, and a behaviour and attendance culture that is being actively tightened. The most recent inspection evidence points to a warm, welcoming ethos and strong expectations, alongside uneven curriculum delivery and a need for greater consistency in behaviour systems and anti-bullying follow-through.

For families, the core question is fit. If your child does well with clear routines, high expectations, and a school that is actively sharpening standards, Kingsway Park is worth serious consideration. If your child is easily unsettled by inconsistent classroom behaviour, you will want to look closely at how the school’s recent changes translate into everyday lessons, and how quickly improvement work is bedding in.

The dominant theme in the school’s public evidence is direction of travel. The school sets out high expectations of conduct and achievement, and it is candid about the need to apply those expectations consistently. Classroom routines are described as clear and widely understood, which matters in a setting of this size.

Leadership is also a visible part of the story. The current headteacher is Mr Simon Ward, and appointment information in official inspection evidence indicates the acting headteacher role began in January 2023. For parents, this context helps explain why some improvements look newer than you might expect from a school with an established “Good” judgement in its history. Staffing and leadership change, plus practical barriers such as building work, are explicitly linked to pace and consistency.

In terms of pupil experience, the picture is mixed but not muddled. Most pupils are described as polite and respectful, bullying is taken seriously and is not portrayed as widespread, yet a minority of pupils still report concerns about how consistently bullying is addressed. That last point is important, because it is less about the existence of problems (which every school has) and more about confidence in the response.

FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking places Kingsway Park High School at 3,528th in England and 8th in Rochdale for GCSE performance (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This sits below England average, within the lower-performing band nationally.

Looking at the core headline measures available here:

• Attainment 8 is 34.1, a broad indicator of average achievement across a basket of GCSE subjects.

• Progress 8 is -0.49, indicating pupils make below-average progress from their starting points across eight subjects (a negative score reflects lower progress relative to similar pupils nationally).

• EBacc average point score is 2.93, and 6.8% of pupils achieved grades 5 or above across the EBacc.

For parents comparing options, this is a set of numbers that calls for careful interpretation rather than snap judgement. The most useful next step is to look at your child’s likely subject profile and support needs, then use FindMySchool’s Local Hub Comparison Tool to benchmark nearby schools on the same measures. Progress 8, in particular, is a helpful signal when you are deciding between schools serving similar communities.

The curriculum intent is described as broad and ambitious, with key knowledge identified carefully and reviewed with external support. That is the “plan on paper” element. The current challenge is translation into consistent classroom practice.

Two specific teaching and learning issues stand out. First, checking what pupils understand and remember over time is not consistently strong enough, which allows misconceptions and knowledge gaps to persist. Second, adaptation for pupils with special educational needs and or disabilities is improving in identification, but not yet applied consistently well in day-to-day teaching.

The implication for families is practical. A child who thrives on clear explanations and frequent feedback is likely to do better where formative checking is tight. If your child needs learning to be adapted routinely, you should ask very directly how staff use SEND information in lessons, what “good practice” looks like in different departments, and how leaders check it is happening consistently.

Reading sits within this same improvement frame. There is a visible push around reading culture and targeted support, including roles such as reading ambassadors, but the school’s strategy is described as still developing, with older pupils needing stronger support to build reading confidence and accuracy.

As an 11 to 16 school, the main transition is post-16. The available official evidence emphasises careers and personal development: pupils engage with work experience and external organisations to learn about different careers, and this is presented as preparation for the next stage.

For families, the key due diligence is simple and high value. Ask what proportion of Year 11 stays within the trust’s post-16 routes versus moving to other local colleges, how the school supports GCSE re-sits where needed, and what guidance is given for vocational pathways as well as A-level routes elsewhere. Good schools are increasingly judged by how well they handle those “Plan B” routes, not only top-set progression.

Year 7 applications are coordinated through Rochdale Council. For September 2026 entry, the council’s published timetable states:

• Applications open Monday 1 September 2025

• Closing date Friday 31 October 2025

• Address change deadline Friday 12 December 2025

• National offer day Monday 2 March 2026

The practical implication is that families should work backwards from 31 October 2025. Visiting (if open events are offered), reading the admissions policy, and sanity-checking your travel plan should happen early in the autumn term. If distance or travel time is a key factor, use FindMySchoolMap Search to check realistic routes and compare them to other feasible secondary options, because commuting practicality often matters as much as school preference at 11.

Demand figures for Year 7 are not set out provided here, so the most reliable approach is to read the published admissions arrangements and confirm how oversubscription criteria are applied for the relevant intake year.

Pastoral strength at Kingsway Park is closely linked to behaviour, attendance, and inclusion practice. Attendance systems are described as effective, and most pupils attend regularly. At the same time, the school acknowledges that poor behaviour is not challenged consistently well enough, and suspension rates, while declining, are still high, which means some pupils lose learning time.

The emotional wellbeing angle sits alongside this. A school can be warm and welcoming, but if a minority of pupils do not trust that bullying concerns are addressed consistently, that can erode a sense of safety for those pupils. If your child is anxious, socially sensitive, or has a history of being targeted, it is worth asking for specific examples of how concerns are logged, how patterns are tracked, and how families are kept informed.

Safeguarding arrangements are described as effective, and that is a baseline indicator parents should take seriously.

For many families, extracurriculars are not a “nice to have”, they are how a school keeps adolescents engaged, builds belonging, and gives pupils a reason to turn up on a hard day. The school is described as offering significant enrichment, with pupils accessing sports clubs including jujitsu, football, and climbing, alongside theatre club.

There is also a structured strand of responsibility and contribution. Pupils hold positions such as student leaders, with a stated role in promoting equality and diversity, and the personal development programme includes events such as Culture Day. The practical benefit is twofold. First, it gives pupils a legitimate voice and a pro-social identity within school. Second, it helps a large school feel smaller, because belonging often comes from teams, roles, and shared projects rather than from year-group scale.

If you are comparing schools, ask not only “what clubs exist” but “who participates and how often”. In big schools, availability is not the same as access. A well-run enrichment programme is one where quieter pupils, SEND pupils, and those without confident friendship groups still end up participating.

Kingsway Park is on Turf Hill Road in Rochdale, and is part of the Altus Education Partnership academy trust. For transport planning, Rochdale is well served by rail connections, and Rochdale Station provides a practical anchor point for families using public transport.

Start and finish times for the school day are not consistently published across accessible official sources, and families should confirm the latest timings directly, particularly if your child will be travelling independently or staying for after-school enrichment.

• Inspection outcome signals pressure for improvement. The most recent inspection evidence indicates that aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection, and that the next inspection will be graded.

• Behaviour consistency is still a live issue. Most pupils behave well, but inconsistent challenge of poor behaviour and historically high suspension rates mean some pupils can miss learning. This matters if your child is easily distracted or anxious in unsettled classrooms.

• Bullying confidence varies by pupil. Bullying is not described as widespread, yet a minority of pupils have concerns about how consistently issues are addressed. Families should probe communication and follow-up processes.

• SEND practice is improving, but uneven. Identification has strengthened, but adaptation in lessons is not yet consistent, which can affect progress for pupils who rely on day-to-day scaffolding.

Kingsway Park High School is a large, mainstream Rochdale secondary that is actively tightening standards through clearer expectations, strengthened routines, and a renewed push on curriculum and reading. The offer will suit pupils who respond well to structure and who can make the most of enrichment options such as jujitsu, climbing, and theatre. It will also suit families who want a state-funded option and are prepared to engage closely with school systems as improvements embed.

The key caveat is consistency. Behaviour systems, bullying follow-through, and classroom adaptation for SEND are the areas parents should explore most carefully, because the quality of day-to-day experience will depend on how evenly those expectations are applied across subjects and year groups.