Keswick School

About Keswick School

Keswick School’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in 2024, awarded it the highest possible grade of Outstanding across every single category: overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. That’s a clean sweep, and it matches the school’s previous Outstanding rating from 2014, so this is clearly a school that has sustained excellence over time. The most telling academic metric is its Progress 8 score of 0.39, which is well above the national average of zero and dramatically higher than the Cumberland local authority average of -0.44. In fact, Keswick ranks first out of 17 secondary schools in Cumberland on Progress 8, placing it in the top 25% of schools nationally. That score means pupils here, on average, achieve nearly half a grade more per subject than pupils with similar starting points across the country.

At GCSE, 88% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, and 65.6% reached the higher grade 5 benchmark. The school’s Attainment 8 score of 54.1 translates to roughly a strong grade 5 per subject, and its EBacc average point score of 5.19 is similarly solid. A high 68.4% of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects, and 42.1% achieved a grade 5 or above across all five components. At A-level, the school’s value-added score of 0.18 is rated as above average, and the average grade across the best three A-levels is a B-, with a points-per-entry score of 36.69. With 124 pupils in the sixth form, it’s a substantial and academically strong post-16 provision.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 379 applications for 172 places, with 169 first-preference applications and 167 offers made to first-preference candidates, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.2. Facilities are generous and include a swimming pool, theatre, astro turf, sports hall, music rooms, and a dedicated sixth-form centre. SEND provision covers a wide range of needs, including dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, and speech, language and communication difficulties. With a low 9% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school draws from a relatively advantaged intake, but its strong Progress 8 score shows it adds real value. Keswick is a good fit for families who want a high-performing, oversubscribed state school with a strong sixth form and a broad extracurricular offer including DofE, Model UN, and Young Enterprise.

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