Marple Hall School
Marple Hall School is a converter academy in Stockport for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 1,590 pupils, 37 more than it has places for. About 13 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Hill Top Drive, Marple, Stockport, SK6 6LB0161 427 7966marplehall.stockport.sch.ukMr Joe Barker headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 20 September 2023 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
285 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England. These are the results of Marple Hall School, the school this one replaced.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025† | 2024† | 2023† | 2022† | 2019† | 2018† | Stockport | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 285 | 311 | 316 | 298 | 297 | 248 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 50.5 | 51.5 | 51.6 | 54.9 | 50.8 | 49.3 | 47.3 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | +0.28 | +0.12 | +0.28 | -0.06 | -0.16 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 60% | 61% | 57% | 66% | 58% | 52% | 47% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 76% | 79% | 75% | 82% | 79% | 76% | 66% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 4.83 | 5.01 | 4.39 | 5.16 | 4.80 | 4.42 | 4.23 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 81% | 87% | 80% | 73% | 77% | 50% | 46% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 35.0 | 39.1 | 37.2 | 38.6 | 37.9 | 39.5 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 52.9 | 53.5 | 53.8 | 57.5 | 53.6 | 51.7 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 30.7 | 26.9 | 31.9 | 21.4 | 27.0 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | 69.0 | 68.8 | 72.9 | 61.7 | 61.3 | – | – |
† These results are for Marple Hall School, the school this one replaced in March 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. None of the gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Stockport council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. Resourced provision (extra staff and funding within a mainstream school) with 16 pupils, for pupils with special educational needs.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (69), Specific learning difficulty (68), Moderate learning difficulty (57), Autistic spectrum disorder (37), language and communications needs (33), Physical disability (12).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25† | 2023/24† | 2022/23† | 2021/22† | 2020/21† | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 7.5% | 7.9% | 8.4% | 8.4% | 4.5% | 5.3% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.7% | 5.2% | 5.6% | 5.5% | 3.3% | 4.0% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.8% | 1.2% | 1.2% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 17.2% | 20.6% | 21.2% | 21.0% | 11.0% | 13.5% | 23.9% |
† These attendance figures are for Marple Hall School, the school this one replaced in March 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrytown Catholic High School | Roman Catholic | 1.3 miles | 792 | No overall grade 2024 | 11 | Compare |
| Werneth School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 925 | Report card 2026 | 3 | Compare |
| Stockport School | Council | 2.1 miles | 1,341 | Good 2019 | 63 | Compare |
| Hazel Grove High School | Academy | 2.7 miles | 1,452 | Report card 2026 | 59 | Compare |
| Alder Community High School | Council | 3.2 miles | 912 | Requires improvement 2024 | 15 | Compare |
| Bramhall High School | Council | 3.4 miles | 1,295 | Good 2023 | 64 | Compare |
| St Anne's RC Voluntary Academy | Academy | 3.8 miles | 666 | Good 2023 | 32 | Compare |
| St Thomas More RC College | Roman Catholic | 3.8 miles | 797 | Good 2022 | 67 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Marple Hall School a good school?
Marple Hall School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in September 2023.
What is Marple Hall School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Marple Hall School good at its last full inspection on 20 September 2023.
How good are Marple Hall School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 60% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 50.5, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about half a grade ahead of children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Marple Hall School have?
1,590 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,553 places, so it is 102% full.
Is Marple Hall School oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at Marple Hall School?
Pupils were in school 92.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 17% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Marple Hall School?
The average class had 22.3 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 3% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Marple Hall School have a sixth form?
No. Pupils leave after Year 11 for a sixth form elsewhere, a college or an apprenticeship.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hill Top Drive, Marple, Stockport, SK6 6LB
- Telephone
- 0161 427 7966
- Website
- www.marplehall.stockport.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Joe Barker
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Helix Academies Trust (2 schools)
- Local authority
- Stockport
- Ward
- Marple North
- Constituency
- Hazel Grove
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 March 2025 (academy converter)
- URN
- 151031 · LAESTAB 3564037 · UKPRN 10095722
- Formerly
- Marple Hall School
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.