The Department for Education has released its new preliminary 2024/25 key stage 4 performance figures for state-funded secondary schools - meaning the country’s best performing schools of the most recent academic year can now be named. These look a little different than usual this year, too.
Schools have been sorted using their Attainment 8 score - a purely performance-based figure derived from learners’ results in up to eight GCSE subjects - rather than the usual improvement-based Progress 8 score. This couldn’t be calculated due to pandemic disruptions this cohort of learners faced.
To help local parents out, we’ve taken a closer look at the schools across the Dewsbury, Batley, Mirfield and Spenborough area - excluding private and special schools - with the highest and lowest Attainment 8 scores this year. These scores go up to 90 and loosely align with GCSE 9-1 number grades.
But grades aren’t the only way to measure school success, so we’ve also included the outcome of the latest Ofsted inspection for each of the schools. These are soon set to change, but for now, we’ve included the overall grade if a school was inspected before last September, or the individual ratings across the four key inspection categories if they’ve been visited by Ofsted since then.
Here is the ranking for every state-funded school across the Dewsbury area:
9. Thornhill Community Academy
This is a secondary academy in Thornhill, Dewsbury, famed as the school featured in Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 43.4 - compared to a local average of 46.3, and a national average of 45.9. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. | Jim Fitton
10. Whitcliffe Mount, A Share Academy
Whitcliffe Mount is a secondary academy in the Cleckheaton area. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 42.6 - compared to a local average of 46.3, and a national average of 45.9. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. | Google
11. Westborough High School
Westborough is a local authority-maintained secondary school in Dewsbury. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 42.5 - compared to a local average of 46.3, and a national average of 45.9. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. | Adam Cheshire
12. Spen Valley High School
Spen Valley is a local authority-maintained secondary school in Liversedge. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 35.6 - compared to a local average of 46.3, and a national average of 45.9. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. | Google