The Farnley Academy

About The Farnley Academy

The Farnley Academy’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in 2023, awarded it an overall Outstanding rating, a remarkable turnaround from its previous Requires Improvement grade in 2019. The inspection report gave top marks across the board: quality of education, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management were all rated Outstanding. But the single most telling exam metric is the school’s Progress 8 score of 0.53, which is well above average nationally. This means that pupils at The Farnley Academy make significantly more academic progress between the end of primary school and their GCSEs than pupils with similar starting points across England. In the local authority of Leeds, that score places the school 10th out of 42 secondary schools, putting it in the top quarter of the area. It also ranks 34th out of 306 schools in Yorkshire and the Humber, and 470th out of 3,141 schools nationally.

Academically, the school’s Attainment 8 score sits at 49.3, and 73.1% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, with 51.9% reaching the higher grade 5 threshold. The EBacc average point score is 4.52, and 73.1% of pupils entered the EBacc combination of subjects, though only 27.9% achieved the full EBacc at grade 5 or above. Breaking down the Progress 8 figure, the school performs strongest in the open element (0.74) and the EBacc element (0.52), with English and maths progress slightly lower at 0.34 and 0.39 respectively. For context, the Leeds local authority average Progress 8 score is 0.07, so The Farnley Academy’s 0.53 is a substantial outperformance. The school also has a sixth form, though no separate A-level data is available in this dataset. Parent feedback is overwhelmingly positive: 93% of respondents would recommend the school, and 80% strongly agreed that their child does well there.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 admissions, it received 766 applications for 298 places, with 353 first-preference applications and 293 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.57. It serves a diverse intake, with 32.6% of pupils eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. The school’s facilities include science labs, art studios, a swimming pool, a sports hall, a gymnasium, music rooms, an ICT suite, and a sixth form centre. There is a wide range of SEND provisions, covering specific learning difficulties, moderate to severe learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, multi-sensory impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. Clubs include Model UN, Young Enterprise, Debate, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. This is a school that suits families looking for a large, high-performing comprehensive with strong academic progress, a broad curriculum, and a clear track record of improvement.

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