Where are the latest Bolton GCSE results?

This page is the 2025 archive (the 2024/25 academic year). The latest published results for every school in Bolton are on the main Bolton GCSE results page, which updates when the DfE releases the next year's performance tables: provisional figures in the autumn, revised figures early in the new year.

What is Attainment 8?

Attainment 8 is the DfE's headline GCSE measure: the average points a school's pupils achieved across eight qualifications, with English and maths counted twice. A score of 50 means pupils averaged roughly a grade 5 across those subjects. No Progress 8 exists for 2025 because these pupils sat no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020.

Why does a school in Bolton show no 2025 GCSE results?

A school has no published figure for 2025 when it had no Year 11 cohort in that year (a new school, or one that opened with younger year groups), when it converted to an academy and the DfE published that year's results under its previous identity, or when it is independent and its pupils sat IGCSE, Pre-U or IB qualifications that the DfE tables do not count. Independent schools with a published figure are listed separately and unranked for that reason.

Bolton GCSE results 2025: secondary school league table

Q: Which school had the best GCSE results in Bolton in 2025?

On 2025 Attainment 8, Sharples School topped the table in Bolton with 55.6, against an England average of 46.1. Attainment 8 rewards intake as well as teaching, so compare a school's grade 5+ pass rate and, where published, its Progress 8 before reading the rank as a verdict.

19 state secondary schools in Bolton ranked on their 2025 GCSE results (Attainment 8, the 2024/25 academic year), with grade 5+ and grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc average point score and cohort size for each school against the England average. 1 school with no published results is listed at the end. 5 independent schools with published results are listed separately, unranked.

This is the 2025 archive of the table. See the latest Bolton GCSE results for the newest year the DfE has published.

Local Authority 20 state secondary schools 2024/25 results Archive year

Secondary schools in Bolton ranked on Attainment 8

19 of 20 schools have published 2025 results. Source: DfE school performance tables, 2024/25.

Secondary schools in Bolton ranked on Attainment 8, 2025 results
Rank	School	Attainment 8	Grade 5+ English & maths	Grade 4+ English & maths	EBacc APS	Pupils
–	England average	46.1	45%	65%	4.09	–
1 , up 1 place since 2024	Sharples School Bolton · Academy converter	55.6	62%	82%	4.73	247
2 , down 1 place since 2024	Bolton Muslim Girls School Bolton · Academy converter	54.7	60%	74%	5.13	150
3	Canon Slade School Bolton · Academy converter	53.9	57%	84%	4.57	291
4 , up 4 places since 2024	St James's Church of England High School Bolton · Academy converter	53.5	58%	82%	4.69	207
5= , up 1 place since 2024	Eden Boys' School, Bolton Bolton · Free schools	53.0	59%	81%	5.02	123
5= , up 4 places since 2024	Essa Academy Bolton · Academy sponsor led	53.0	54%	75%	4.43	200
7 , down 3 places since 2024	Kearsley Academy Bolton · Academy sponsor led	51.8	59%	73%	4.47	143
8 , down 2 places since 2024	Rivington and Blackrod High School Bolton · Academy converter	49.2	53%	72%	4.16	276
9 , up 3 places since 2024	Little Lever School Bolton · Academy converter	46.2	57%	67%	3.91	203
10 , up 3 places since 2024	Thornleigh Salesian College Bolton · Voluntary aided school	45.7	41%	68%	3.86	263
11 , down 1 place since 2024	King's Leadership Academy Bolton Bolton · Free schools	45.4	43%	61%	4.28	175
12 , down 1 place since 2024	St Joseph's RC High School Bolton · Voluntary aided school	44.8	50%	70%	3.99	207
13 , up 1 place since 2024	Westhoughton High School Bolton · Community school	44.4	41%	60%	3.62	257
14 , down 9 places since 2024	Turton School Bolton · Community school	43.7	31%	57%	3.85	253
15	Harper Green School Bolton · Academy converter	42.8	36%	58%	3.70	214
16	Ladybridge High School Bolton · Community school	41.7	33%	52%	3.56	211
17 , up 1 place since 2024	University Collegiate School Bolton · University technical college	36.7	31%	41%	3.14	91
18 , down 1 place since 2024	Smithills School Bolton · Academy converter	36.5	20%	47%	3.25	234
19	Bolton St Catherine's Academy Bolton · Academy converter	34.3	19%	46%	2.89	138
–	Mount St Joseph RC High School a Voluntary Academy Bolton · Academy converter · No published GCSE results for 2025	–	–	–	–	–

Schools with the same Attainment 8 score share a rank (shown as "=").

Under each rank: the change since the 2024 table, in places gained (+) or lost (−). No figure means the rank is unchanged or the school had no ranked 2024 result.

Independent schools in Bolton with published 2025 GCSE results

Listed as published, not ranked. The DfE tables count only reformed GCSEs, so a school whose pupils sit IGCSE, Pre-U or the IB reports a lower figure than its results merit, or none at all. Compare independent schools on their own published examination results and inspection reports.

School	Attainment 8 (as published)	Grade 5+ English & maths	Pupils
Bolton Islamic Girls School Bolton · Other independent school	53.1	53%	19
Bolton School Boys' Division Bolton · Other independent school	34.3	0%	131
Bolton School Girls' Division Bolton · Other independent school	55.2	0%	131
Lord's School Bolton · Other independent school	5.3	0%	14
Madrasatul Imam Muhammad Zakariya Bolton · Other independent school	51.2	0%	20

How to read this table

Attainment 8 is the average points a school's pupils achieved across eight GCSE subjects: English and maths (double-weighted), three EBacc subjects (sciences, computing, history, geography, languages) and three further approved qualifications. The DfE publishes it for every state school; the England average for 2025 was 46.1.

Grade 5+ in English and maths is the share of pupils reaching a "strong pass" in both; grade 4+ is the "standard pass". EBacc APS is the average point score across the English Baccalaureate subjects, including pupils who did not enter them.

Progress 8 is not shown: the DfE published no Progress 8 for 2025 because these pupils sat no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020, the baseline it is measured from. Attainment 8 rewards intake as well as teaching, so a selective school will usually top an attainment-only table.

Ranks are shared where scores tie. Schools are ranked here on published results alone; our composite score, which also weighs Ofsted inspection, progress and attendance, orders the same schools on the best secondary schools page.

This is the 2025 archive of the table: each school's 2025 figures, ranked within that year, so a school with no 2025 figure is listed unranked even where it has results for a later year. The main Bolton GCSE results page always ranks the newest year the DfE has published.

See the best secondary schools in Bolton on our composite score

Bolton GCSE results 2025: secondary school league table

Secondary schools in Bolton ranked on Attainment 8

Independent schools in Bolton with published 2025 GCSE results

More about schools in Bolton

Bolton GCSE results: common questions