Stockport Academy Review 2026: Character-led secondary with steady progress

A clear organising idea runs through daily life here: character education sits alongside academic expectations, with a structured timetable that makes space for co-curricular activity at the end of the day. Students are part of one of four houses, named after Himalayan peaks, and house points are used to recognise work, contribution and conduct.

Leadership is stable. Mrs Janine McCann is the principal, and she was already in post by October 2018, which matters for consistency in curriculum and behaviour routines.

Academically, outcomes sit broadly in the middle range for England, with a positive Progress 8 score suggesting students tend to do better than their prior attainment would predict. For families weighing local options, it is a school where structure, belonging, and incremental improvement are central themes.

The most distinctive cultural feature is the house system. Students are allocated to Makalu, Lhotse, Sagarmatha, or Annapurna, and the school explicitly links house identity to its values of aspiration, respect and community.

There is an intentional push towards participation, rather than leaving enrichment to the already confident. The school describes a broad menu of house competitions and events across the year, with adaptations so that students who find loud or high-energy activities difficult can still engage. That framing is particularly relevant for families with children who want to join in, but may not thrive in high-noise or high-performance club settings.

Pastoral organisation is also visible in how the day is structured. Registration and form time are built in before lessons begin, and the timetable finishes with a designated co-curricular and intervention slot, rather than squeezing clubs into ad hoc time.

The school’s Christian character is reflected in its stated ethos and its sponsor heritage, rather than being positioned as a faith-selective environment. In practice, families should expect values language and collective activities that support community identity, without the admissions requirements associated with faith schools that prioritise church attendance.

GCSE performance context (FindMySchool rankings)

Stockport Academy is ranked 1,480th in England and 8th in Stockport for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This places performance in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

The attainment picture includes an Attainment 8 score of 46.6. Progress is a relative strength: Progress 8 is 0.24, which indicates above-average progress from Key Stage 2 starting points.

The English Baccalaureate outcomes are more mixed. The school’s average EBacc APS is 4.32, compared with an England average of 4.08, suggesting slightly stronger average point scores among those taking the suite. However, 24.9% of pupils achieved grades 5 or above across the EBacc subjects measure reported which points to a cohort where achieving the stronger benchmark remains uneven across entries.

What does this mean for parents? The data points fit a profile of a school where progress measures look healthier than raw headline thresholds. For a child who needs clear routines, consistent teaching practice, and a steady push to improve, the direction of travel is likely to matter as much as the absolute grade distribution.

Parents comparing local schools can use the FindMySchool Local Hub pages to view these outcomes side by side, using the Comparison Tool to see how progress and attainment differ across nearby options.

Curriculum thinking appears intentionally sequenced, with subject teams setting out exam boards in core areas and a wider offer that includes applied and vocational pathways at Key Stage 4. For example, English follows AQA for both language and literature, while humanities splits between AQA geography and Edexcel history, indicating a conventional academic spine.

Alongside that, the school offers courses such as Health and Social Care (BTEC) and Child Development and Care in the Early Years (NCFE), which can suit students who learn well through applied content and scenario-based assessment. The practical implication is choice: some students will be better motivated by real-world units and structured coursework, particularly if they are clearer about post-16 pathways into care, education, sport, or service sectors.

A second visible strand is performance and confidence-building in the arts. Performing arts content references productions, concerts, and workshops, and there is explicit staffing for drama, dance, and peripatetic music support, signalling that creative subjects are not treated as an afterthought.

There is no sixth form, so the key transition is post-16. The school places weight on structured careers education, with a published CEIAG policy mapped to the Gatsby Benchmarks and the provider access requirements that ensure students encounter technical and apprenticeship routes as well as college and sixth form options.

For families, the practical benefit is earlier, more systematic exposure to choices. The school states that students can access an independent, Level 6 qualified careers adviser commissioned through the local authority, and that employer engagement, mock interviews and pathway events are planned across year groups.

The school also introduced Unifrog for Years 7 to 11, which is designed to help students record activities, explore routes, and prepare application materials in Year 11. For a school without sixth form, that kind of platform can help students organise evidence for college interviews, apprenticeship applications, and personal statements where relevant.

Year 7 admissions are coordinated through Stockport Council, rather than directly through the school. For September 2026 entry (2026 to 2027 Year 7 intake), the school states the application deadline is 31 October 2025. The published admission number (PAN) is 210 for Year 7.

Open events appear to follow an autumn pattern. The school’s communications show open evenings in October in recent years, aimed at Year 6 families ahead of the late October deadline. Families should treat October as the typical window and check the school’s calendar each year for the confirmed date and booking arrangements.

For families using distance as a realistic filter, the most reliable approach is to combine a visit with hard geography. Catchments and allocation can shift year to year based on applications, so parents should use FindMySchool Map Search to check distances from their home to the school gate and to model different shortlist options.

The school’s wellbeing narrative is supported by a visible infrastructure. Safeguarding documentation identifies the designated safeguarding lead and deputy roles, and the wider approach is positioned as a whole-school responsibility, reinforced through training and policy review.

Support for specific groups is also a theme. The school has highlighted young carers support through its published policy framework and has a track record of recognition for this work. For families where caring responsibilities sit alongside school life, it is worth asking how identification works in practice, how attendance is supported, and what flexibility is built into deadlines for homework or enrichment.

SEND information is unusually detailed in its public reporting, including staffing roles and the way transition support is structured for vulnerable Year 6 students. This is useful for parents who want a concrete sense of how needs are identified, how plans are reviewed, and what communication looks like with home.

Co-curricular provision is built into the timetable. The school day ends with a dedicated slot for co-curricular activity, detentions, and Year 11 Period 6 intervention, and the school positions participation as important for confidence, health, and future applications.

The headline scale is also substantial. The school describes around 70 co-curricular activities running across a term, and its SEND information report describes a busy annual programme of house competitions and events designed to be accessible. The implication is choice and variety, but also the need for students to manage time and commitments sensibly, especially in Year 10 and Year 11.

For specific named opportunities, the Duke of Edinburgh Award is offered from Year 9, with volunteering, skill development, and expedition preparation forming the core of the programme. This can be a good fit for students who respond well to practical goals and structured independence.

The house system adds another layer of participation. Students can earn points not just through sport but also through creative and academic competitions such as photography and design, which helps broaden the definition of contribution beyond the obvious activities.

The school day is clearly published. Registration begins at 08:25, lessons run through five periods, and the day finishes at 15:45 with the co-curricular and intervention slot. The school describes this as a 32.5-hour week.

Travel planning is helped by the school’s own guidance on bus links, including services that run from Stockport via Edgeley and onward through nearby areas. The school also signposts the IGO card for concessionary travel, including the published cost of £10 and eligibility ages.

• Post-16 transition is a hard stop. With no sixth form, every student must move provider after Year 11. Families should ask early about college application support, interview preparation, and how reference writing is managed.

• Co-curricular time is part of the design. The timetable and the house model encourage participation, which can be excellent for confidence and belonging, but it does require organisation, particularly alongside Year 11 intervention.

• EBacc outcomes are mixed. Progress measures look positive, but stronger EBacc thresholds are not yet consistently achieved across the cohort, so families with highly academic EBacc priorities should discuss subject pathways and support in detail.

• Open events are popular. The school has a track record of very busy open evenings, so booking early and arriving with a clear list of questions will help you get what you need from the visit.

Stockport Academy suits families who want a structured secondary with clear routines, a strong sense of belonging through houses, and a practical commitment to careers guidance in a school without sixth form. Academic results sit broadly in the middle range for England, with encouraging progress indicators. The main decision point is fit: it is best for students who respond well to systems, participation expectations, and the steady building of habits over time.