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:
13. Millthorpe School
This is a secondary academy in York, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 53 – compared to a local average of 50.7 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
14. Lady Lumley's Academy
Lady Lumley's is a secondary academy in Pickering, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 52.7 – compared to a local average of 46.5 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
15. Outwood Academy Easingwold
Rounding out North Yorkshire’s top 15 this year is this secondary academy in Easingwold. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 51.7 – compared to a local average of 46.5 and a national average of 45.9. | Google