Northampton School for Girls

About Northampton School for Girls

Northampton School for Girls sits within the West Northamptonshire local authority, where it ranks 4th out of 22 secondary schools by Progress 8 score, placing it comfortably in the top quarter of schools locally. The three schools ahead of it are Northampton School for Boys, Northampton Academy, and Wootton Park School, all of which are within a few miles. As a girls-only state secondary with a sixth form, it serves 1,737 pupils aged 11 to 18, and its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2021 rated the school Good overall, with Outstanding marks for sixth-form provision, personal development, and leadership and management. The school is led by headteacher Cristina Taboada-Naya and has no religious character. It is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, the school received 636 applications for 265 places, with 291 first-preference applications and 234 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.4 applicants per place.

Academically, the school performs well above the local average. Its Progress 8 score of 0.49 is significantly higher than the West Northamptonshire average of 0.05, and the school’s Progress 8 banding is rated Above average. In English, the Progress 8 score is 0.5, and in the EBacc subjects it is 0.59, though maths progress is more modest at 0.09. Attainment 8 sits at 53.4, and 80.4% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is very high at 91.1%, with 58.6% achieving a grade 4 or above across the EBacc. At A-level, the school’s value-added score is -0.13, which is rated Below average, and the average points per entry is 32.3, equivalent to a C+ grade. The best three A-levels average grade is also C+, with 12% of entries achieving AAB or higher. Nationally, the school ranks 517th out of 3,141 schools by Progress 8, placing it in the top 17% of schools across England.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including science labs, a theatre, music rooms, tennis courts, a gymnasium, sports hall, swimming pool, playing fields, library, astro turf, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports on offer include tennis, rounders, rowing, cricket, swimming, athletics, dance, and gymnastics, while extracurricular clubs cover debate, eco club, science club, coding, young enterprise, and model UN. The school’s SEND provisions are extensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulties. With 16.1% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a diverse intake. It is a good fit for families who want a high-performing girls’ school with strong academic progress at GCSE, a well-regarded sixth form, and a wide range of facilities and clubs, though those prioritising A-level value-added may want to look more closely at the sixth-form outcomes.

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