The Link Academy
Secondary · Dudley · DY2 0PB
Data updated
Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)
The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.
Inspected 19 May 2026 · report published 21 June 2026
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,013 pupils · 96% of 1,050 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 51.2% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 24.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 17.9% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 2.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Website
- www.thelinkacademy.org.uk
- URN
- 144952
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 174 families named it first for 196 Year 7 places, 0.89 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2025 entry went to 2826 m (≈1.76 mi); distance decided places in 2 of the 6 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2021 to 2026. At its report-card inspection on 19 May 2026, under the system Ofsted introduced in November 2025, the Achievement area was judged Expected standard. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 9% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.89 first-choice applications per place196 places offered · 174 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. The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
The council did not publish a cutoff distance for 2026 entry.
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2025 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 2826 m (≈1.76 mi)
measured in a straight line.
Would you have got in? Check your postcode
One free check a month, no account needed: your postcode against this school's cutoff history. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools you would be inside, and the address check across every school at once.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Dudley school admissions · the wider Dudley authority
GCSE results (2024/2025)
195 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 in line with 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.
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 46% (Dudley 68%, England 59%) · Asian Pakistani 24% (Dudley 7%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 5% (Dudley 3%, England 2%) · Black African 5% (Dudley 3%, England 5%) · Any other ethnic group 4% (Dudley 2%, England 3%) · Any other White background 4% (Dudley 2%, England 7%) · Any other Mixed background 3% (Dudley 3%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Dudley 2%, England 2%) · Any other Asian background 2% (Dudley 1%, England 3%) · Asian Indian 1% (Dudley 3%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Dudley 1%, England 1%) · Black Caribbean 1% (Dudley 1%, England 1%) · Not recorded 1% (Dudley 2%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Dudley 0%, England 2%) · Any other Black background 1% (Dudley 1%, England 1%) · other groups together 0%
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)
15.09 suspensions per 100 pupils and 8 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Dudley: 18.06 suspensions and 0.48 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)
91% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 2% moved to another state school · 7% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 1.64% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
49.2% of teachers took sickness absence, 12 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 £55,291; 10.8% 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 (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 78% (77%) · premises 5% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 9% (6%) · supplies and services 9% (11%) · educational supplies 4% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (1%) · catering 5% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £0; in-year balance +£838,000
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: academy finance return, 2024-25, 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
- 19 May 2026: Expected standard
- 8 February 2022: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 1/10among the most deprived tenth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 1/10among the most deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 19.3% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 29.9% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 13.3% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 31.2% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 48.5% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 54.8% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 11.6% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 31.5% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 8.8% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 12.4% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 15.6% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 32.7% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01009840 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £191,000200 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £159,000–£232,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (2.83 km, 2025 entry): 1,797 sales, median £192,500. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
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
- 5an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 13an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 42an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 13an urban school averages 6.1
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