Upper Wharfedale School
Secondary · Skipton · BD23 5BS
Data updated
Last grade Ofsted published, no newer grade exists
Ofsted graded this school Outstanding in 2019. Every inspection since has been ungraded, and an ungraded inspection cannot change a grade. The most recent found “Standards maintained”. Ofsted's current data file lists only graded inspections from September 2019 onwards, so this grade has dropped out of it, but it is still the school's grade of record, and still on Ofsted's own report page. Treat an Outstanding of this age with care: Outstanding schools were exempt from routine re-inspection until 2020, so these grades are among the oldest on record.
Inspected 5 June 2019
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
351 pupils · 100% of 350 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 15.4% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 6.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 9.1% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 6.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Website
- www.uws.n-yorks.sch.uk
- URN
- 121690
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 65 families named it first for 66 Year 7 places, 0.98 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 9.48 miles, the only Year 7 round we hold for it. The last grade Ofsted published for it is Outstanding, from 2019. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 7.6% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.98 first-choice applications per place66 places offered · 65 first-choice applications · roughly balanced
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Places by distance, last offered at 9.48 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 9.48 miles
measured by shortest walking route.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Skipton school admissions · North Yorkshire school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
77 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Cartmel Priory CofE School | 47.2 | |
| Winchcombe School | 42.8 | |
| The Lakes School | 46.8 | |
| Chetwynde School | 44.2 | |
| The Clere School | 41.3 | |
| Stradbroke High School | 44.3 | |
| Dartmouth Academy | 45.3 | |
| Melbourn Village College | 42.3 | |
| Old Buckenham High School | 37.8 | |
| The Priory Church of England School | 40.1 | |
| Langtree School | 58 | |
| The Five Islands Academy | 48.7 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 87% (North Yorkshire 85%, England 59%) · Any other ethnic group 2% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 3%) · Asian Pakistani 2% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 5%) · Any other Mixed background 2% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 2%) · Any other White background 2% (North Yorkshire 4%, England 7%) · Not recorded 1% (North Yorkshire 2%, England 2%) · Any other Asian background 1% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 3%) · Asian Indian 1% (North Yorkshire 1%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (North Yorkshire 0%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 1% (North Yorkshire 0%, England 2%) · other groups together 1%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
4.13 suspensions per 100 pupils and 0 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · North Yorkshire: 26.68 suspensions and 0.17 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
98% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 2% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained secondaries: 0.22% vacant, 0.42% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
68% of teachers took sickness absence, 8.3 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £55,096; 25% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2025-26)
Where the money went (2025-26)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 74% (77%) · premises 4% (6%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 8% (7%) · supplies and services 8% (10%) · educational supplies 6% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (2%) · catering 1% (3%)
Reserves (2025-26)
Revenue reserve -£435,725; in-year balance +£82,721
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: council-maintained school finance return, 2025-26, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 3 December 2024: Standards maintained
- 5 June 2019: Outstanding
- 15 May 2018: School remains Good (Improving) - S5 Next
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 7/10less deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 41.1% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 15.3% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 40% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 10.1% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 43.7% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 78.4% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 4.4% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 17.2% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 45.4% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 3.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 25.7% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 8.1% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01027585 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £377,00060 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £277,500–£509,500the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0a rural school averages 0.3
- Collisions at school-run times
- 0a rural school averages 0.7
- All reported collisions
- 2a rural school averages 3.4
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0a rural school averages 0.9
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted
Nearby schools
- Threshfield Primary School
- Grassington Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
- Cracoe and Rylstone Voluntary Controlled Church of England Primary School
- Burnsall Voluntary Aided Primary School
- Kettlewell Primary School
- Embsay Church of England Primary School
- Gargrave Church of England Primary School
- Skipton Girls' High School