Oulder Hill Leadership Academy Review 2026: A calm, respectful secondary with a clear improvement story

Purposeful routines, a strong emphasis on respect, and a visible leadership culture shape daily life here. The academy serves students aged 11 to 16 and is part of Star Academies, bringing a trust-wide approach to curriculum, training, and pastoral systems. The current principal, Adrian Smale, joined in September 2023, a key marker in the school’s recent direction of travel.

Inspection evidence points to a welcoming community where students feel proud to belong, behaviour is typically orderly, and safeguarding is effective. The academy is a sizeable Rochdale secondary, with capacity for 1,500 students and around 1,170 on roll in the most recent published figures.

Respect is the organising idea, and it is described as a daily norm rather than a slogan. Students are reported to be considerate towards one another, and many say this creates the confidence to be themselves. Calm corridors and predictable routines matter in any large secondary, especially for students who need structure to settle quickly, and formal observations describe the environment as orderly and safe.

There is also an explicit service strand. Students are encouraged to contribute, not only through formal roles, but through practical acts that make the school feel socially minded. Examples include student-led food bank collections and work with local care home residents around seasonal cards, which matters because it links personal development to the local area in a concrete way. For families, this often signals a culture that expects students to look outward, not simply focus on their own outcomes.

Leadership, in this context, is not only about prefect badges. The student council is presented as a serious vehicle for consultation and change, with students gathering peer feedback and using it to improve aspects of school life. That approach can suit students who enjoy responsibility and want a say in how the community operates, while also supporting quieter students by giving them clearer channels to be heard.

The school’s improvement story is important to how the atmosphere is likely to feel in 2026. The academy converted in March 2022 and has been aligning its systems and expectations with Star Academies since then. In practice, that typically means a stronger focus on consistent routines, coherent curriculum sequencing, and staff development, and the published inspection narrative describes trust involvement as visible across multiple aspects of school life.

For GCSE outcomes, the school’s FindMySchool ranking places it 2,593rd in England and 3rd within Rochdale. This is a proprietary FindMySchool ranking based on official data, and it indicates performance that sits in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

Under the hood, the attainment picture is mixed. The school’s Attainment 8 score is 42.8. Progress 8 is -0.13, which indicates that, on average, students made slightly below-average progress compared with pupils nationally who had similar starting points. EBacc average point score is 3.87, and 8.7% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure reported.

What does that mean for families choosing between local schools? First, outcomes suggest that consistent teaching and strong routines matter here, because marginal shifts in progress measures can have real impact on the proportion of students securing stronger GCSE profiles. Second, it is a school where the quality of day-to-day learning and the reliability of teaching practice are likely to matter more to outcomes than any single headline initiative.

The latest Ofsted inspection (7 and 8 January 2025) graded all four judgement areas as Good and confirmed safeguarding as effective.

Curriculum organisation is a clear strength in the formal evidence. Subjects are described as logically ordered, with careful attention to what students should retain over time. That kind of sequencing is particularly important in a large 11 to 16 school, because it reduces variation between classes and makes it easier for students to catch up if they move groups, have periods of absence, or need targeted support.

Teaching is underpinned by a defined set of agreed learning strategies. In day-to-day terms, this shows up through regular checks on understanding and teachers using a consistent approach to explanation and practice. The implication for families is straightforward: students who respond well to structure, clear modelling, and frequent low-stakes checks are likely to find classrooms predictable in a good way.

The main development point is also clearly stated. Some teachers do not always implement the agreed strategies or assessment checks as effectively as intended, which can leave gaps and misconceptions unaddressed for some students. The practical takeaway is that the school’s direction is set, but the quality of delivery can still vary between classrooms, a common feature of schools in a rapid improvement phase.

Reading is treated as a whole-school priority rather than only an English department concern. The Star Readers challenge is designed to prompt students to read across a broader, ambitious range of texts, and students who struggle with reading are described as receiving targeted support to address gaps quickly. For parents, this is especially relevant if a child arrives in Year 7 with reading below age-related expectations, because secondary success depends heavily on reading stamina across every subject.

Support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities has strengthened. Needs are described as identified quickly and accurately, and staff are reported to have better information and expertise to support these students effectively. The implication is not only academic access, but also smoother day-to-day experience for students who can be destabilised by inconsistent strategies or unclear adjustments.

Where Students Go Next

With no sixth form on site, planning for post-16 routes matters from Year 9 onwards. The published inspection narrative places weight on the careers programme, describing it as giving students the information needed to make well-informed choices about next steps. This matters because strong post-16 progression relies on earlier guidance, not a last-minute Year 11 scramble.

Students can typically progress into sixth form colleges, further education routes, or apprenticeships depending on grades and interests. A school-wide culture of leadership and service can support applications and interviews, because students are used to articulating responsibility, teamwork, and contribution, which are traits employers and colleges often look for.

It is also relevant that the inspection confirms the school meets provider access legislation requirements, meaning students should receive meaningful exposure to technical education and apprenticeship pathways, not only traditional academic routes. Families for whom apprenticeships are a serious option should still ask what this looks like in practice across Years 9 to 11, for example, how often providers visit, whether encounters are personalised, and how the school supports applications.

Year 7 admissions for Rochdale residents are coordinated by Rochdale Borough Council. For September 2026 entry, applications open on Monday 01 September 2025 and close on Friday 31 October 2025, with national offer day on Monday 02 March 2026.

For families trying to judge likelihood of offer, the clearest recent public benchmark is the local authority’s allocations and appeals guide for 2025 to 26. For this school, the guide shows a Published Admission Number of 300 and 228 total places offered, with vacancies remaining as at 03 March 2025. It also sets out the oversubscription criteria used, including places for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school, looked-after and previously looked-after children, children of eligible staff, exceptional medical or social circumstances, siblings, then distance.

The same guide reports that the distance calculated for the final child offered a place was 3.191 miles (straight-line distance using the local authority GIS system) for that allocation cycle. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

A practical way to use this information is to treat it as a historic reference point rather than a promise. If you are close to the 3.191-mile figure, assume outcomes could move either way year to year. Parents shortlisting schools often benefit from checking precise home-to-school distance using FindMySchool’s Map Search, then comparing it against the last published distance benchmarks alongside other Rochdale options.

Transition support can also matter in choosing between otherwise similar secondaries. The school publishes specific Year 6 transition activity, including a Year 6 transition day scheduled for Tuesday 07 July 2026.

Orderly behaviour is a core feature of daily experience in the formal evidence, with students described as understanding rules and routines and valuing the role these play in keeping everyone safe. For many families, particularly those with children who find secondary transition daunting, that predictability can be more important than any single policy headline.

Personal development is closely connected to the school’s leadership identity. Students are encouraged to contribute through community activity and school roles, which can support confidence and maturity across Years 7 to 11. The key question for parents is fit: a student who responds well to structured expectations and clear routines is likely to thrive, while a student who resists rules and needs looser boundaries may find the environment more challenging.

SEND support has improved substantially according to published evidence, with stronger identification and staff expertise. That has two benefits: it supports academic access, and it often reduces behaviour issues that stem from unmet needs and frustration.

The most credible indicator of extracurricular culture is not how long the clubs list is, but who runs it and what it signals about student responsibility. Here, older students are reported to lead activities for younger year groups, including chess club and history club. That matters because it provides role-modelling, creates safer social mixing, and gives students practical leadership experience that can feed into personal statements and interview confidence later on.

Clubs and enrichment also support identity beyond examinations. The inspection narrative references activities such as breakdancing and debating, a combination that hints at both performance culture and structured academic speaking. For students who do not see themselves primarily through sport, those options can be an important route into belonging.

Reading enrichment is also framed as an engagement programme rather than remedial work. The Star Readers challenge encourages students to explore ambitious texts, and this can have a meaningful knock-on effect across the curriculum, because students with stronger reading stamina generally cope better with GCSE-style exam questions, longer word problems in maths, and extended writing tasks in humanities and science.

Community contribution is another strand that sits alongside clubs. Activities like food bank collections and community links provide students with service experiences that can build confidence and empathy. This can particularly suit students who respond well to purposeful activity and want school life to feel connected to the wider area, not closed off from it.

This is a state school with no tuition fees.

Transport for Greater Manchester lists the school day as 8.25am to 2.55pm. For travel planning, families in Greater Manchester often combine Bee Network bus routes with Metrolink and rail links into Rochdale, and it is sensible to trial the journey at drop-off and pick-up times before committing.

• Results are steady rather than top-tier. Progress 8 is -0.13, suggesting slightly below-average progress from starting points. For some students, the consistency of teaching strategies and the quality of follow-up on misconceptions will be decisive.

• Classroom delivery can still vary. Published evidence notes that some teachers do not consistently apply the agreed learning and assessment strategies as effectively as intended, which can leave gaps for some students.

• Distance benchmarks move year to year. In the 2025 to 26 allocations cycle, the final offered distance reported was 3.191 miles. Distances vary annually based on applicant distribution; proximity provides priority but does not guarantee a place.

Oulder Hill Leadership Academy offers a calm, respectful secondary experience with a clear improvement trajectory under a newish principal and a trust-led model. The atmosphere described in formal evidence suggests students feel safe, routines are consistent, and leadership and service are taken seriously.

Who it suits: families who want structured expectations, clear routines, and an ethos that emphasises responsibility and contribution, particularly for students who benefit from predictability and defined boundaries.