The government released the latest preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools in December, revealing the top performing institutions across the country - including Merseyside.
The official league tables include ‘Progress 8’ scores for the latest 2023/24 academic year, which show how secondary schools across the country are faring compared with others and give schools a positive or negative score, measuring the progress that pupils make from Key Stage 2 in primary school right up to the end of their GCSE assessments in Key Stage 4.
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A score above zero means pupils have achieved better results on average at their school than at other schools across England that got similar results at the end of Key Stage 2, and 0.5 or higher is classes as ‘well above average’.
A score below zero does not mean there was no progress, but means that pupils made less progress than at schools with higher scores. However, some overall negative scores may be classed as ‘average’ when the confidence interval spans both above and below zero.
So, which schools in Sefton are the best performing? We have created rankings for the area’s state secondary schools, based on their Progress 8 scores, from best to worst. We have also included their latest Ofsted ratings where available.

1. Formby High School, Formby
Formby High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.43 which is ‘above average’. Latest Ofsted score - good in all key categories. | Formby High School, Formby

2. Birkdale High School, Birkdale
Birkdale High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.23 which is ‘above average’. Latest Ofsted score - good. | Google Street View

3. Greenback High School, Southport
Greenback High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.04 which is ‘average’. Latest Ofsted score - unavailable. | Google Street View

4. Chesterfield High School, Crosby
Chesterfield High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.01 which is ‘average’. Latest Ofsted score - good. | Google Street View