The Link Academy

About The Link Academy

The Link Academy in Dudley has undergone a significant turnaround since its last full inspection. Rated Inadequate in 2016, the school was judged Good across all categories in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, including behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management under headteacher Emma Edwards-Morgan. On the academic front, the school’s Progress 8 score sits at -0.02, which is broadly in line with the national average and notably above the Dudley local authority average of -0.08. This places the school 8th out of 17 secondary schools in the borough when ranked by Progress 8, and in the top half nationally at the 49th percentile. The Attainment 8 score of 39.8 reflects a solid baseline, while 51.4% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths. The school’s EBacc average point score of 3.33 is modest, and only 6.8% of pupils entered the EBacc suite of subjects, a figure well below the national average.

Digging deeper into the Progress 8 breakdown, the school shows a slight positive in English (+0.07) but a small negative in maths (-0.03) and the EBacc subjects (-0.03). The progress banding is rated as Average, and the confidence interval for the overall score ranges from -0.24 to 0.19, meaning the true figure could be slightly higher or lower. The school’s open element score of -0.08 suggests that performance in non-core subjects is marginally below expectations. With 49.7% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a significantly disadvantaged intake compared to the national average, making its Good Ofsted rating and near-average Progress 8 score a notable achievement. The school does not have a sixth form, so pupils leave at 16, and the proportion achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths drops to 33.9%, highlighting a gap between the basics measure at grade 4 and the higher threshold.

The Link Academy is a popular choice locally, receiving 344 applications for 204 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, with 193 first-preference offers made from 196 first-preference applications. The oversubscription ratio of 1.69 confirms strong demand. Facilities are generous for a state secondary, including a swimming pool, theatre, tennis courts, playing fields, and dedicated art studios. The school offers a wide range of clubs from Model UN and Young Enterprise to coding and orchestra, and sports include swimming, football, gymnastics, and martial arts. SEND provision is comprehensive, covering autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health, and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia. This is a school that suits families looking for a genuinely inclusive, improving secondary with strong pastoral care and a broad extracurricular offer, particularly those in the Dudley area who want a non-selective, mixed state option that has demonstrably raised its game.

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