Horsforth School

About Horsforth School

Horsforth School sits within the Leeds local authority, where it ranks 16th out of 42 secondary schools on its Progress 8 score, placing it comfortably in the top 40% of its peers locally. The top-performing schools in the area are The Ruth Gorse Academy, Allerton High School, and Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, but Horsforth holds its own as a strong, well-regarded comprehensive. It is a mixed, non-denominational state secondary for pupils aged 11 to 18, with a large roll of 1,773 students against a capacity of 1,865. The school is significantly oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 academic year, it received 1,113 applications for 282 places, with 360 first-preference applications and 281 offers made to first-preference families. That works out at nearly four applicants for every place, a clear sign of local demand. The headteacher is Paul Bell, and the school has a dedicated Sixth Form centre, confirming its all-through secondary provision.

Academically, Horsforth School performs well above the Leeds average. Its Progress 8 score of 0.4 is significantly higher than the local authority average of 0.07, and the school is banded as 'Above average' nationally. In its most recent graded Ofsted inspection, carried out in 2013, the school was rated Good overall, with leadership and management also judged Good; an ungraded inspection in October 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. At Key Stage 4, 86.2% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, and 64% achieved a grade 5 or above. The Attainment 8 score sits at 55.8, and the EBacc average point score is 5.17, with 80.9% of pupils entered for the EBacc combination of subjects. At A-level, the school's value-added score is 0.21, again above average, with pupils averaging a B grade per entry and a best three A-level grade of B+. The Sixth Form progress banding is also rated 'Above average'.

The school offers a broad range of facilities, including a swimming pool, sports hall, astro turf, tennis courts, music rooms, and a chapel. Sports on offer include gymnastics, martial arts, cricket, rugby, and dance, while clubs range from Debate and Orchestra to Coding, Gardening, and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Horsforth also provides support for a wide range of special educational needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. This breadth of SEND provision, combined with strong academic outcomes and heavy oversubscription, makes Horsforth a good fit for families who want a large, inclusive, high-performing comprehensive with a thriving Sixth Form and plenty of extracurricular options. It is not a boarding school.

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