SchoolFacts.uk

Lancaster High School

Secondary · Lancaster · LA1 3LS

⇄ Compare with another school
Good

Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system

This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.

Quality of education: GoodBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: GoodSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 26 September 2023

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

567 pupils · 76% of 750 capacity

School type
Academy converter
Age range
11–16
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
48.5% of pupils
English as additional language
16.4% of pupils
SEN support
22.7% of pupils
EHC plan
2.4% of pupils
Website
http://www.lancasterhigh.lancs.sch.uk
URN
147260

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

0.84 first-choice applications per place

122 places offered · 102 first-choice applications · usually has places

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

GCSE results (2024/2025)

95 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
35.6
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
46.3%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
25.3%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
3
England 4.1

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. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school35.6
Median of its 12 closest peers35.8
Lancashire average46
England46.1

On attainment 8, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Dixons Pennine AcademyStalybridge · 50 miles awayGood35.8
Magnus Church of England AcademyNewark · 106 miles awayRequires improvement35.7
The Salesian Academy of St John BoscoBootle · 41 miles awayNeeds attention32.2
St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic AcademySt. Helens · 41 miles awayGood42.6
Outwood Academy KirkbyNottingham · 91 miles awayRequires improvement36.1
Mercia AcademySwadlincote · 101 miles awayRequires improvement32.6
The Valley Leadership AcademyBacup · 33 miles awayNeeds attention32.6
St Hild's Church of England SchoolHartlepool · 77 miles awayRequires improvement34
Pegasus AcademyDudley · 111 miles awayExpected standard44.4
Outwood Academy RedcarRedcar · 78 miles awayNeeds attention37.3
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic AcademyPrescot · 44 miles awayRequires improvement30.2
The Hyndburn AcademyBlackburn · 25 miles awayNeeds attention37.4

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
13.3%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
34.5%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
19.5
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

79% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 12% moved to another state school · 9% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£11,209
Typical secondary school£7,798

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where pupils go after GCSEs

In sustained education, work or training
84%
Continuing in education
76%
Apprenticeship
5%
Employment
3%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
3/10more deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
2/10among the most deprived fifth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher22.9%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications27.1%18.1%
In managerial or professional work19%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways28.5%18.1%
Residents in very good health42.1%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier51%62.3%
Social housing36.3%17.1%
Privately rented11.7%20.5%
Detached houses4.5%22.9%
Flats15.2%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms8.4%21.1%
Households with no car or van35.1%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01025091 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,323 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£174,500252 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£149,000–£235,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (15)£480,000
Semi-detached (45)£230,000
Terraced (142)£167,500
Flat (50)£162,500

Homes around this school are cheaper than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. 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
0an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
1an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
6an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
1an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools