There is no shortage of excellent secondary schools across Northamptonshire, and this year, they’ve once again shown what they can really do.
The Government has now released the 2024/25 school year’s preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools. These look a little different than usual this year, with the usual improvement-based Progress 8 scores unable to be calculated due to the pandemic disruptions this cohort faced back in their primary school days.
Instead, the default metric used to compare schools is their Attainment 8 scores - a purely performance-based figure derived from pupils’ results in up to eight GCSEs. But in Northamptonshire, many local secondaries excelled over the most recent GCSE season nevertheless.
To celebrate these schools, we’ve created a league table of this year’s highest achievers across the North and West Northamptonshire council areas. Attainment 8 scores go up to 90 and loosely align with GCSE 9-1 number grades, with the national average being 45.9 this year - somewhere between the standard and strong passing grades of 4 to 5. We’ve only those with scores of at least 50, or close to it. In cases where two schools had the same score, they have been ordered alphabetically.
Of course, grades aren’t the only measurement of what kind of learning environment a school provides. That is why we’ve also checked to make sure each school included had a positive mark in its latest Ofsted inspection. These are set to change this month, but for now, we’ve only included schools with either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade before last September, or positive ratings across all categories if they’ve been inspected since.
Here were the 13 schools which came out on top across Northamptonshire:
9. Sir Christopher Hatton Academy
Sir Christopher Hatton is a secondary academy in Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire, which was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it also had an Attainment 8 score of 50.2 – compared to a local average of 42.8 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
10. Chenderit School
This is a secondary academy in Middleton Cheney, West Northamptonshire, near the Oxfordshire border. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 50 – compared to a local average of 44.6 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
11. The Duston School
Another all-through academy in Northampton, The Duston School was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it too had an Attainment 8 score of 50 – compared to a local average of 44.6 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
12. Prince William School
Prince William School is a secondary academy in Oundle, North Northamptonshire, which was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 48.9 – compared to a local average of 42.8 and a national average of 45.9. | Google