Stanley High School Review 2026: A values-led Sefton secondary with a clear improvement agenda

Stanley High School is a mixed, non-selective secondary serving Birkdale and wider Southport, with places for students from Year 7 to Year 11. It is part of the Southport Learning Trust and, for many families, that trust context matters because it shapes leadership capacity, shared systems, and the pace of change.

Miss Nicki Gregg joined as headteacher in September 2024, so the current direction of travel is still relatively new. The most recent Ofsted inspection, dated April 2025, graded the school Requires Improvement for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. That report also states that safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Demand is solid. For the most recent recorded Year 7 entry route there were 255 applications for 144 offers, which indicates meaningful competition for places even without a published “last distance offered” figure for context.

The school’s public-facing language is explicit about being values-led and child centred. It emphasises students feeling safe and happy, and places strong weight on positive relationships and inclusivity. These priorities show up not only as general statements but also as practical expectations around attendance, high standards, and a behaviour approach described as restorative, with an emphasis on investigation, communication with families where required, and repairing relationships while maintaining clear boundaries.

Recent external findings suggest a community working to make routines consistent. Classroom routines are described as beginning to embed, with behaviour generally positive but not reliably upheld when staff do not apply the policy consistently. The implication for families is straightforward. If your child thrives on clear, predictable boundaries, you will want to understand how consistent routines feel across different lessons and year groups, and what the school is doing to make that consistency stronger over time.

There is also evidence of a school that puts time into structured pastoral roles. The school bulletin format highlights year leadership and pastoral leadership posts by year group, which often signals that day-to-day pastoral oversight is organised and visible to families.

This is a non-selective state secondary, so results need to be read in the context of comprehensive intake and the school’s current improvement priorities.

On the FindMySchool GCSE outcomes ranking, Stanley High School is ranked 3,027th in England and 4th in the Southport local area. This places performance below England average, within the bottom 40% of ranked schools in England (FindMySchool ranking based on official data).

The dataset also reports an Attainment 8 score of 39.1, an EBacc average point score of 3.55, and a Progress 8 score of -0.71. The Progress 8 figure indicates that, on average, students made less progress than similar students nationally from the end of primary school to GCSEs.

For families, the practical implication is that “fit” matters more than headline figures. A school can be the right choice if it matches your child’s needs, particularly around routine, pastoral support, and the confidence to re-engage learners. The key is to look for evidence of improving consistency in teaching and behaviour, because those are the levers that typically move outcomes over time.

The curriculum intent is framed as broad, ambitious, and anchored in a commitment to English Baccalaureate subjects alongside personal development. The website also highlights literacy and numeracy being strengthened across subject areas, and a school-wide focus on reading culture.

Where the school is currently being challenged is the gap between curriculum ambition and classroom execution. External evaluation points to inconsistency in how well learning activities help pupils apply and remember knowledge, and to variability in checking understanding. For parents, that translates into a useful set of questions: how departments support teachers with subject-specific pedagogy, how often student work is reviewed for curriculum standards, and how intervention is targeted when gaps appear.

A notable academic enrichment example is the school’s participation in the Department for Education-funded Latin Excellence Programme, positioned as an after-school enrichment route. The published programme outline states that participating Year 9 students spend up to two hours per week studying Latin after school, alongside access to enrichment activities such as trips. The educational value here is not only language learning. For many students, Latin can reinforce vocabulary, grammar awareness, and reading precision, which can support wider literacy when it is taught carefully and consistently.

SEND is also a crucial part of the teaching picture. The school identifies additional needs swiftly, but the same external evidence highlights that learning is not always adapted well enough to meet needs, which can limit outcomes for students who rely on strong scaffolding. The best indicator to look for, if SEND support is relevant to your child, is whether classroom practice is changing, not only whether systems exist on paper.

Where Students Go Next

Because the school’s age range ends at 16, post-16 planning is not optional, it is central. Students typically move on to sixth form colleges, further education colleges, apprenticeships, or training providers depending on attainment and interests.

The school’s own communications show active engagement with local post-16 providers, including assemblies and information inputs from colleges. For families, that is a positive practical sign because it suggests the school is building a clearer line of sight from GCSE choices to next-step routes.

Careers education is an area where the most recent external findings indicate further development is needed, particularly around ensuring pupils have sufficient exposure to pathways and options when they leave. If your child benefits from early guidance, you will want to understand what has changed since that evaluation, for example employer encounters, technical education encounters, and how personal guidance is delivered in Year 9 to Year 11.

Stanley High School is a Sefton local authority coordinated admissions school, within the Southport Learning Trust.

For Year 7 entry (September 2026), the closing date for applications is 31 October 2025, which is the key operational deadline families should anchor to. Offers for secondary places are issued on the national offer date; for 2026 entry this falls on Monday 2 March 2026 because 1 March is not a working day.

Demand is meaningful based on the dataset’s application-to-offer ratio for the Year 7 route (255 applications, 144 offers). Without a published “last distance offered” figure here, parents should focus on oversubscription criteria and realistic travel plans. If you are comparing multiple Sefton schools, FindMySchool’s Map Search is the quickest way to sanity-check travel time and practical logistics when you are shortlisting.

Safeguarding is described as effective in the most recent external evaluation, which is a baseline expectation but also a critical reassurance. Beyond that, the school’s stated ethos places strong emphasis on inclusion, positive relationships, and ensuring students feel safe and happy, combined with high expectations and strong attendance.

Day-to-day wellbeing in secondary schools usually hinges on two things: predictable routines and adults who know students well. Here, the school is actively working on embedding routines more consistently, while also maintaining visible year-based pastoral structures. The implication for families is that engagement with the school, especially early if concerns arise, is likely to be important. This is particularly true for students who struggle with organisation, attendance, or confidence, because those patterns typically improve fastest when family and school systems align.

Extracurricular life is one of the more concrete strengths in published information because the school provides a structured weekly timetable of activities, rather than broad claims.

There is a clear academic support spine. Library study and homework support is offered at lunchtimes and after school, including access to computer suites with staff available to help. The practical benefit is obvious for students who need a calm environment to complete work, or for families who cannot reliably supervise homework immediately after school.

Sport is also prominent in the published programme and is supported by specific facilities. The activities list references the sports hall, field, and a 3G pitch, with lunchtime and after-school options. For students, that matters because physical activity becomes an accessible routine rather than an occasional event, which can support attendance, friendship groups, and general wellbeing.

The enrichment offer goes well beyond sport and homework. The published timetable includes Latin Club for Years 7 and 8, a STEM Club, an Eco Committee, Choir, Puzzle Club, Culture Vultures for Key Stage 3, Sci-Fi Film Club, a Volunteering Club, and a Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh pathway. This breadth is useful for parents because it creates multiple “hooks” for students who may not identify as sporty but still benefit from belonging to a group that meets every week.

The compulsory school day runs from 08:40 to 15:00, with five lessons and timetabled break and lunch. Breakfast Club is available from 08:00 to 08:30, and extracurricular activities are listed as running from 15:00 to 16:00.

This is a state school with no tuition fees. Families should still budget for the usual secondary costs, including uniform, equipment, trips, and optional clubs or music-related costs where applicable.

• Recent inspection grades. The latest external evaluation graded all four judgement areas as Requires Improvement, with particular emphasis on consistency of curriculum delivery, checking understanding, and behaviour expectations. This matters if your child needs highly consistent classroom practice to thrive.

• Careers is developing. Published findings point to careers information and exposure not yet being strong enough for all pupils. If your child benefits from early, structured guidance, ask how the school has strengthened careers since April 2025.

• No sixth form. Planning for post-16 routes needs to start early. This suits students ready to choose a clear pathway after GCSEs, but it can feel abrupt for those who would prefer continuity into Year 12.

• Competition for places. The Year 7 entry route shows more applications than offers. If you are set on this school, understand Sefton’s oversubscription criteria and keep alternative preferences realistic.

Stanley High School is a Sefton comprehensive with a clearly stated values-led identity and a timetable-backed enrichment offer that gives students multiple ways to belong. The current story is also one of active improvement, with leadership change in September 2024 and external evaluation in April 2025 identifying the practical work needed to make teaching quality and behaviour expectations more consistent.

Who it suits: families who want a local, inclusive secondary with structured extracurricular options, who are prepared to engage with the school’s improvement journey and prioritise routines, attendance, and consistent home support. For students who respond well to enrichment, clubs, and a clear pastoral structure, this can be a sensible, community-rooted choice.