Sharples School
Secondary · Bolton · BL1 8SN
Data updated
Ungraded inspection: no current grade
Ofsted's most recent visit was an ungraded inspection; its outcome was “Improved significantly”. Since September 2024 these outcomes no longer confirm a named grade. No graded inspection appears in Ofsted's records for this school since 2015 either, so SchoolFacts shows no grade rather than guessing. Any earlier grade is on the school's Ofsted report page.
Inspected 8 January 2025
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,214 pupils · 112% of 1,080 capacity (over capacity) (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 27.5% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 33.7% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 9.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.2% of pupils (2024/2025)
- URN
- 142232
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 344 families named it first for 235 Year 7 places, 1.46 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 1.1 miles; distance decided places in 5 of the 5 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2022 to 2026. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 5% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
1.46 first-choice applications per place235 places offered · 344 first-choice applications · oversubscribed
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Places by distance, last offered at 1.1 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 1.1 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Bolton school admissions · the wider Bolton authority
GCSE results (2024/2025)
247 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Harris Academy Riverside | 47.9 | |
| The Westgate School | 40.6 | |
| Overton Grange School | 46.8 | |
| St John's Catholic Comprehensive | 42.1 | |
| The St Marylebone CofE School | 61 | |
| Spalding Academy | 45.3 | |
| Campion School | 44.5 | |
| Coombe Wood School | 52.6 | |
| King Edward VII Academy | 44.4 | |
| Harris Academy Ockendon | 47.3 | |
| The Langley Academy | 52.4 | |
| Ditton Park Academy | 47.4 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 33% (Bolton 53%, England 59%) · Asian Indian 32% (Bolton 8%, England 4%) · Asian Pakistani 14% (Bolton 15%, England 5%) · Black African 6% (Bolton 8%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Asian 4% (Bolton 2%, England 2%) · Asian Chinese 2% (Bolton 1%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 2% (Bolton 2%, England 3%) · Any other White background 2% (Bolton 3%, England 7%) · Any other ethnic group 1% (Bolton 3%, England 3%) · Any other Mixed background 1% (Bolton 2%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Bolton 1%, England 1%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Bolton 0%, England 2%) · other groups together 1%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
4.60 suspensions per 100 pupils and 3 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Bolton: 31.53 suspensions and 0.29 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
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Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
88% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 1% moved to another state school · 11% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
1.29% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
56.6% of teachers took sickness absence, 9.1 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £52,165; 7.6% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 77% (77%) · premises 6% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 7% (6%) · supplies and services 10% (11%) · educational supplies 7% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (1%) · catering 2% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £1,828,000; in-year balance +£128,000
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: academy finance return, 2024-25, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 7 January 2025: Improved significantly
- 8 May 2019: School remains Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 7/10less deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 8/10less deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 29.3% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 20.4% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 28.5% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 12.4% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 52.8% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 88.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 1.3% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 9.8% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 23.1% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 0.3% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 16.4% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 11.5% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01004770 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £205,000450 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £147,500–£260,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (1.77 km, 2026 entry): 1,171 sales, median £220,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 3an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 3an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 2an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted