Leeds West Academy

About Leeds West Academy

Leeds West Academy sits within the Leeds local authority, a large and varied secondary school landscape where it currently ranks 33rd out of 42 schools by Progress 8. That places it in the bottom half of the city’s state secondaries, well behind the top-performing peers in the area — The Ruth Gorse Academy, Allerton High School, and Mount St Mary's Catholic High School all post significantly stronger academic scores. The school is a mixed, non-denominational 11-16 comprehensive with 1,450 pupils on roll, close to its full capacity of 1,500. It serves a community with a high level of disadvantage: 40.8 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. The most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in October 2024, confirmed that standards are being maintained at Good, a notable improvement from the Requires Improvement rating the school received in its previous graded inspection back in 2019. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is The Farnley Academy, about four kilometres away.

Academically, the school’s headline Progress 8 score of -0.3 is below average nationally and sits well below the Leeds local authority average of +0.07. That means pupils here make less progress between Key Stage 2 and GCSEs than their peers across the city. The Attainment 8 score of 38.6 is modest, and only 32 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths — the basics measure that many parents look at first. The EBacc entry rate is low at 8.9 per cent, and just 3.2 per cent of pupils achieved the full EBacc at grade 5 or above. On the positive side, the Progress 8 score for maths is close to the national average at -0.03, suggesting that maths teaching is a relative strength. English and the EBacc subjects show more significant negative scores. The school’s ranking in the Yorkshire and the Humber region is 208th out of 306 schools, and nationally it sits in the bottom third, at the 72nd percentile.

Leeds West Academy is oversubscribed for Year 7 entry in 2025/26, with 632 applications for 274 places and 234 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.31. The school has a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, theatre, art studios, music rooms, and a chapel, plus sports such as netball, rugby, and gymnastics. There are extensive clubs covering drama, Model UN, coding, and Young Enterprise. The school reports a wide array of SEND provisions, including support for autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Parent View responses from 104 parents in the 2024/25 period show that 68 per cent would recommend the school. The strongest positive feedback was on the range of subjects and clubs, while concerns were more mixed around communication and how concerns are handled. This is a school that has improved its Ofsted rating and is popular locally, but its academic outcomes remain below the Leeds average, so it may suit families who prioritise a supportive environment and wide extracurricular offer over top-tier exam results.

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