The Chalk Hills Academy

About The Chalk Hills Academy

The Chalk Hills Academy in Luton holds a Good rating from its most recent graded Ofsted inspection in 2014, and an ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. The most telling academic metric is its Progress 8 score of -0.02, which places pupils’ progress almost exactly in line with the national average. This is a solid result for a secondary school where a third of pupils (33.4%) are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. In Luton, the average Progress 8 score across all schools is 0.03, so The Chalk Hills Academy sits very close to that local benchmark. The school ranks 6th out of 11 secondary schools in the local authority on this measure, placing it in the middle of the pack. Its Attainment 8 score of 45.6 means the average pupil achieves just under a grade 5 across their best eight GCSE subjects.

At GCSE, 64.5% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, though the figure drops to 43.5% when looking at grade 5 or above. The school’s EBacc average point score of 4.02 reflects a decent breadth of academic study, with 43.2% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. In the sixth form, the picture is more mixed. The sixth form provision was rated Requires Improvement in the 2023 inspection, and the A-level value added score of -0.05 is classed as Average. Pupils achieved an average of 29.81 points per entry, equivalent to a grade C, and the best three A-levels averaged 31.19 points, also a C grade. Only 7.1% of sixth formers achieved AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 247 places in Year 7, there were 466 total applications, with 249 listing it as first preference. Only 237 first-preference offers were made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.89. Facilities include a theatre, sixth form centre, science labs, art studios, music rooms, and a chapel. Sports on offer range from rugby and cricket to martial arts and swimming, and there are clubs covering chess, debate, Model UN, and Young Enterprise. The school supports a range of SEND needs, including autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language difficulties, and social, emotional and mental health needs. This is a large, diverse comprehensive that performs around the national average academically, and its popularity with local families suggests it is a well-regarded choice for those seeking a mainstream state secondary with a strong sixth form.

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