More than 60 thousand young people across Yorkshire will soon be gearing up for a major life transition - entering a new world of class timetables and exams.
There are now mere weeks to go before the end of the 2024/25 school year, which will end around July 23 in most council areas. After the six-week summer holidays, children will return to class in early September for the start of the new, 2025/26 school year.
For the thousands of primary school leavers, this will mean starting at a brand new secondary secondary school. Here, they’ll hopefully earn important skills and qualifications as they forge a path for life beyond school. But to reach their full potential, children need a school environment that works well for who they are as a person.
That’s why we’re revisiting the best performing state-funded secondary schools across all of Yorkshire’s council areas, based on our own personal ‘gold standard’. This is firstly based on is each school’s Progress 8 score for the most recently-available exam season (currently 2023/24) - a Government metric which shows how quickly students are progressing compared to their peers, from leaving primary school to when they take their GCSEs.
We’ve only included schools with a score above 0.6 - considered a high ‘well above average’. It is worth noting that each school’s performance data has now been finalised, so results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results.
On top of that, we’ve also made sure each school on the list had positive ratings in their latest Ofsted inspections. These inspections are in the midst of an overhaul, but we’ve restricted our list to those with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system, or positive ratings across all categories under the current one. This means their quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices all met or exceeded government standards.
Here are the 22 schools across North, West, South and East Yorkshire that made the cut:
19. Dixons Cottingley Academy
Dixons Cottingley is a secondary academy in Cottingley, in the Bradford district. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.65. | Google
20. St Mary's College, Kingston upon Hull
This St Mary’s is a Catholic secondary academy and sixth form in Hull. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.63. | Google
21. The Hayfield School
The Hayfield School is a secondary academy in Auckley, just out of Doncaster. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.63. | Google
22. Upper Wharfedale School
Rounding out the list is this local authority-maintained secondary school in the Threshfield area, North Yorkshire. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.6. | Google