Open Evening is one of our most enjoyable events each year, so we are disappointed we won’t be holding one this year. Although we only move into our new school building in October, lots of our existing furniture, equipment and displays will be moved over at the start of the Autumn Term. This means that we will be unable to show off our school in the same way we would normally do. 

We will also be losing a significant amount of our external areas due to the groundworks, and this will make access and parking problematic. We don’t want parents to experience these problems or compromise anyone’s Health and Safety. 

Our first event for parents of the 2024 intake will be our Year 6 transition evening. This will take place in July 2024, and we will be established within our new buildings by then. Students will be invited to our move-up days during the weeks running up to the transition evening and they will see our new facilities during taster lessons.

Yes and No. We will be arranging a very small number of visits to the existing school based on specific questions we get to our dedicated mailbox. We ask that you appreciate the fact that the school will not look the way it would normally do so. We’re very much ‘living out of boxes’ as we prepare for the move. Some equipment has already been moved into the new school and classroom displays are being removed.

Yes. If you wish your child to attend Fred Longworth High School place us as your first choice. The admissions’ team at the local authority are obliged to consider parents’ first choice. Place other schools as your second and third choices. The full admissions criteria can be found here.

Fred Longworth has a strong reputation for supporting students with additional needs. Our dedicated inclusion team provide support for children with a variety of different needs. The team are based in our Inclusion Centre. If your child has an EHCP you can liaise with the team to ensure the right provision and support is in place. If you would like to speak with our Inclusion Team, we can arrange a visit to our centre. Please contact Mrs Waring or Mrs Gannon to arrange this by emailing questions@flhs.wigan.sch.uk.

Fred Longworth is a large secondary school with 1,300 students from ages 11 to 16. We are a large school but through our pastoral system, we make a big school feel very small. Visitors often comment on the positive, friendly, and family atmosphere around school, we proudly refer to this as the Freddie’s Family. Our school is affectionately referred to as Freddie’s. Our staff do not leave; many former students have returned as staff themselves and many of our staff either send or have sent their children here.

Each year group is overseen by a non-teaching Head of Year. This means that students receive a high level of pastoral support, and any issues are dealt with quickly. Our Head of Year team is also well established and very experienced; they are ably supported by 3 Deputy Heads of Year per year group. The Year Team remains with the year group throughout their 5 years in school which means they get to know the students and their families extremely well. On entry, students are placed in form groups and because we have very low staff turnover, form tutors tend to remain with their form group for the 5 years. The student- form tutor relationship is very strong in our school. Mr Whalley is our Pastoral Deputy Head and Safeguarding lead, he has over 30 years’ experience and also knows our students and their families extremely well.

Mr Whalley oversees the transition process. It is the favourite part of his job. He visits every child coming to Freddie’s in their primary school and he liaises closely with all the Year 6 teachers. We find out as much as possible about each child before they arrive at school and use this information to carefully place students into form groups. In the summer term we organise two transition days and an additional day for students with additional needs and who may need extra support with the transition. We also run an information evening for Year 6 parents. When form groups are organised, Mr Whalley will ensure where possible that each child is placed with at least one other child that they know. Children are not taught exclusively in their form groups in Year 7 and as a result of this and through our transition activities, children get to know each other very quickly.

Freddie’s is a unique school. As an Arts College, our school has a rich offer in both the creative and performing arts. Our Music, Dance and Drama department are nationally renowned for their work. Students have the opportunity to be involved in numerous extra-curricular programmes including performances, shows and workshops. The Creative Arts are also strong and offer a wide range of clubs and workshops after school such as photography and pottery. 

We have a vibrant PE department and students get the opportunity to compete in a range of sports at local, regional, and national level. Outside of sports and performing arts we offer a host of other clubs such as creative writing, chess and even sign language.

It certainly does. The library is open every day before school, at break-time, lunchtime and after school for homework clubs. We have a range of activities that take place in the library including workshops from visiting authors. The new library has been deliberately designed as the focal point of our new school building. We consider ourselves to be a reading school.

We would describe Freddie’s as warm-strict.  Our school is built on positive relationships between staff and students.  This stems from our pastoral system and our experienced teaching and support staff; however, we make no apologies for insisting on high standards of behaviour. In so doing, we create a safe and orderly environment for students to thrive in.

Your child will study the National Curriculum at Key Stage 3; however, our excellent Arts and Sports facilities means that we can offer greater diversity than most other schools in these subject areas. At Key Stage 4 your child will be able to study a mixture of GCSE and vocational courses. To find out about our exam offer you can look at our options information here.

In November 2023, the school will move into its brand-new building. This is a £24 million project that will provide us with state-of-the-art facilities and adds to our recent development of a £3.3M Maths and Humanities block and a brand new 3G pitch. 

Once we have moved in, the demolition of the old school will begin, and a new playing field will be formed in its place and the whole project will finally be complete by the summer of 2024. Students joining us in September 2024 will experience the full benefit of our newly developed school site.

The school’s last inspection took place in October 2022 and the school was rated good. You can read all our inspection reports here.

Our students perform extremely well in national tests and attainment levels are amongst the highest in the borough; however, we consider ourselves to be more than just an ‘exam factory’.

97% of all of our leavers go on to either further education or employment. Year-on-year, the majority (86%) of our students progress into vocational courses or traditional A Levels in Further Education colleges. Popular colleges for Freddie's students include Winstanley, St John Rigby, Salford City Colleges, Wigan and Leigh and St Mary's Sixth Form.

Students are grouped for teaching using a mixture of both mixed abilities groups and setting. We find that this works best for us. Teaching groups are continually reviewed.

Yes. When children arrive in Year 7, they will start to receive homework. Depending on the primary school they have come from, this can be a shock sometimes; however, it is vitally important that over the 5 years they are with us that we increase our students’ resilience and develop their ability to study independently. We are very careful not to overburden students in their early years at school, but we would be failing them if we did not provide them with any homework and build this up over time.

Fred Longworth High School is a single academy trust governed by an experienced and well-established Board of Trustees.

Sadly, we live in a society where there are many risks to children and where ineffective parenting causes significant issues in our community. Furthermore, no school can ever claim to be bullying free; however, as a school we have highly effective safeguarding measures in place and we take a stern, zero tolerance approach towards bullying – we always involve parents and outside agencies when appropriate to do so. The effectiveness of our safeguarding has been recognised by OFSTED, annual external reviews, and internal trustee reviews. Mr Whalley has over seen this aspect of the school for many years, and it is a strength of our school.

Our pastoral system ensures that all students receive high levels of pastoral guidance, and our culture of high expectations and positivity helps to develop our students on a personal level. We deliver a comprehensive Personal, Social, Health and Emotional Curriculum which educates our students on many of the issues they need to be aware of to navigate the world around them. Our award-winning careers programme is also key in raising the personal aspirations of our students. All of students leave our school and progress into either employment or further education.

The total floor area of the school will be very similar, but the design will give us significantly larger teaching areas and social spaces. Our capacity for students will remain the same as it is now. In our current building we have many undersized classrooms with inadequate ventilation, and these have been addressed when planning the new school.