North Yorkshire can proudly say it is an above-average county, when it comes to how its young people did in their GCSEs this year.
The Government has now published its preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools over the most recent 2024/25 school year. This time, however, the default measure used to compare schools has switched to Attainment 8 scores - a purely performance-based figure derived from learners’ results in up to eight qualifications. The usual, improvement-based Progress 8 scores couldn’t be calculated this year due to pandemic disruptions this cohort faced back in primary school.
To help local families make sense of the new numbers, we’ve created a league table of the best-performing schools across the City of York and North Yorkshire council areas with the highest performance scores this year. 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 - although both local authorities surpassed this.
North Yorkshire is home to some excellent selective grammar schools which naturally stood out, although plenty of high-achieving comprehensive schools made the list too. But since grades aren’t the only determining factor in what makes a school great, we’ve also made sure each one included on our list had a positive mark in its latest Ofsted inspection. These are getting an overhaul 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 North Yorkshire’s top 15 this year:
5. St Aidan's Church of England High School
St Aidan's is an Anglican secondary academy in Harrogate. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 56.3 – compared to a local average of 46.5 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
6. Harrogate Grammar School
Despite what its name might suggest, this is actually a comprehensive secondary academy, in Harrogate. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 56.2 – compared to a local average of 46.5 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
7. Fulford School
This is a secondary academy in Fulford, York. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 55.1 – compared to a local average of 50.7 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
8. St John Fisher Catholic Academy
St John Fisher is a Catholic secondary academy, also in Harrogate. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 55 – compared to a local average of 46.5 and a national average of 45.9. | Google