Houstone School
Secondary · Dunstable · LU5 5PX
Data updated
SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection
We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →
Inspected 20 May 2025
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
765 pupils · 85% of 900 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Free schools
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 28.3% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 34.2% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 12.2% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- URN
- 149107
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 209 families named it first for 184 Year 7 places, 1.14 first choices per place. We hold 3 Year 7 admissions rounds for it, 2024 to 2026; none was decided by a published distance. At its inspection on 20 May 2025 Ofsted awarded no overall grade; the lowest of the four areas it judged was Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 7% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
1.14 first-choice applications per place184 places offered · 209 first-choice applications · oversubscribed
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Admissions demand: Year 9 entry, September 2025
1.50 first-choice applications per place8 places offered · 12 first-choice applications · heavily oversubscribed
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.
Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Dunstable school admissions · Central Bedfordshire school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
70 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ruskin Community High School | 37.9 | |
| Thomas Knyvett College | 38.6 | |
| Bishop Milner Catholic College | 45.9 | |
| The Deanery CofE Academy | 46.6 | |
| Bolder Academy | 45.6 | |
| Southborough High School | 48.3 | |
| Newmarket Academy | 45.9 | |
| St Thomas Becket Catholic School | 38.7 | |
| Colne Primet Academy | 35.4 | |
| The Hollins | 40.7 | |
| Giles Academy | 38.6 | |
| The De Montfort School | 38.4 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 40% (Central Bedfordshire 75%, England 59%) · Any other White background 21% (Central Bedfordshire 6%, England 7%) · Black African 8% (Central Bedfordshire 2%, England 5%) · Any other ethnic group 7% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 3%) · Any other Mixed background 6% (Central Bedfordshire 3%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 3% (Central Bedfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Black Caribbean 3% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Asian Indian 2% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 4%) · Any other Black background 2% (Central Bedfordshire 0%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 2% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 3%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Asian 1% (Central Bedfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Central Bedfordshire 0%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Central Bedfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Not recorded 1% (Central Bedfordshire 2%, England 2%) · 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)
41.25 suspensions per 100 pupils and 4 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Central Bedfordshire: 15.62 suspensions and 0.26 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)
93% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 2% moved to another state school · 5% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
81.4% of teachers took sickness absence, 5.5 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 £48,082; 12.8% 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 73% (77%) · premises 7% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 7% (6%) · supplies and services 13% (11%) · educational supplies 6% (6%) · bought-in professional services 4% (1%) · catering 2% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £0; in-year balance +£565,000
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
Inspection history since 2015
- 20 May 2025: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 6/10around the middle for England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 6/10around the middle for England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 28% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 15.6% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 27.7% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 13.1% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 47.7% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 70.5% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 3% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 26.3% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 6.2% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 13.4% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 4.3% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 10.7% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01017600 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £300,000338 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £265,000–£375,000the 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
- 1an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 1an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 13an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 3an 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