The Halifax Academy

About The Halifax Academy

The Halifax Academy sits below the Calderdale local authority average for Progress 8, scoring -0.2 against the LA average of 0.06 for secondary schools. That places it 10th out of 15 schools of the same type in the borough, putting it in the bottom third locally. The school’s Attainment 8 score of 40.9 is modest, and its EBacc average point score of 3.5 reflects a curriculum where only 24.1% of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects. On the basics measure, 54.8% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though that drops to 32.2% at grade 5 or above. The school is significantly oversubscribed — 319 applications for 195 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, with 223 first-preference applications — suggesting that despite middling headline numbers, it remains a popular choice for local families.

The Ofsted inspection from June 2023 rated the school Good overall, with two standout areas graded Outstanding: personal development, and behaviour and attitudes. Leadership and management also received an Outstanding rating. This is a notable improvement from the previous inspection in 2017, which was also Good but with no Outstanding grades. The Progress 8 breakdown shows that the school’s weakest area is maths, with a score of -0.39, while English is closer to the national average at -0.11. The open element of Progress 8, which covers non-EBacc subjects, is -0.08 — almost in line with expectations. The school’s Progress 8 banding is classified as Average, and it ranks 185th out of 306 schools in Yorkshire and the Humber, placing it in the middle nationally at the 64th percentile.

The Halifax Academy is a large all-through school for pupils aged 4 to 16, with 1,451 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,320. It has no sixth form, so students must move on after Year 11. Facilities are strong for a state school, including a swimming pool, astro turf, sports hall, gymnasium, theatre and chapel. Sports offered include rowing, rugby, netball and gymnastics, and clubs range from Model UN and Debate to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Chess. The school has a wide range of SEND provisions, covering dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language difficulties, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. With 37.5% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively disadvantaged catchment. It will suit families who value strong behaviour and personal development over raw academic scores, and who want a broad range of facilities and extracurriculars within a large, inclusive setting.

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