Derby and the wider East Midlands is home to plenty of stellar secondary schools, grammar schools and comprehensives.
New preliminary state secondary school key stage 4 performance data for the most recent academic year has just been released by the Department for Education.
The move has revealed a list of the region’s highest performing schools of 2024/5.
This year, the default metric schools are sorted by is their Attainment 8 score.
This is a performance-based figure gleaned from learners’ results in up to eight GCSEs.
It is temporarily standing in for the usual Progress 8 scores, which weren’t able to be calculated due to disruptions this cohort of learners faced during the pandemic.
To help families understand the new numbers, and with next year’s secondary school application deadline looming, we have created a league table of the highest achieving state secondary schools across all of the East Midlands’ major council areas.
Attainment 8 scores can go up to 90 and loosely align with GCSE 9-1 number grades.
We have limited our list to schools with an average score of 55 or above - similar to a strong pass of 5 or 6.
Since grades aren’t the only measure of a good school, we have also made sure each one we included had a positive mark in its latest Ofsted inspection.
These are set to change in the near future, but for now, all schools must have earned either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade before last September, or positive ratings across all categories if they’ve been inspected since.
This means that quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices all met or exceeded official standards.
Here were the 10 schools across Derbyshire that did especially well this year.
5. Bishop Stopford School
Bishop Stopford is a secondary academy in Kettering, North Northamptonshire. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 58.6 – compared to a local average of 42.8 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
6. The Ecclesbourne School
This is a secondary academy in Duffield, Derbyshire, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 58.1 – compared to a local average of 44.9 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
7. Northampton School for Boys
This is a boys’ secondary academy in Northampton, which in a recent Ofsted inspection, was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2024/25 school year, it too had an Attainment 8 score of 57.9 – compared to a local average of 44.6 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
8. Beauchamp College
Beauchamp College is a secondary academy in Oadby, Leicestershire, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 55.8 – compared to a local average of 46.2 and a national average of 45.9. | Google