Yate Academy

About Yate Academy

Yate Academy sits in the middle of the pack among South Gloucestershire’s 16 secondary schools, ranking 8th by Progress 8 score. That puts it ahead of the local authority average, which sits at -0.25, and places it in the top half of schools in the area. The top three performers in the same local authority — John Cabot Academy, Bradley Stoke Community School, and The Castle School — all post higher Progress 8 scores, but Yate Academy’s own score of 0.03 is still positive, meaning pupils here make slightly more academic progress than the national average. It’s a mixed, non-religious state secondary with a sixth form, led by headteacher Edward Rakshi, and it has grown to 801 pupils against a capacity of 900. The school is noticeably oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 266 applications for 142 places, with 139 first-preference offers going out, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.87.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, Yate Academy was rated Good overall, a clear improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2015. Behaviour and attitudes, along with leadership and management, were both judged Outstanding, while the quality of education, personal development, and sixth-form provision all came out as Good. At Key Stage 4, the school’s Progress 8 score of 0.03 is classed as Average nationally, and it sits well above the South Gloucestershire average of -0.25. Attainment 8 sits at 46.9, and 64.1% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is a healthy 60.6%, with 41.5% achieving the EBacc at grade 4 or above. At A-level, the picture is more mixed: the school’s value-added score of -1.15 is rated Well below average, with an average points per entry of 21.45, equivalent to a D grade. Only 18.2% of entries achieved AAB or higher.

The school is well equipped, with facilities including a swimming pool, sports hall, theatre, science labs, music rooms, and a dedicated sixth-form centre. Sports on offer range from football and rugby to martial arts and gymnastics, while clubs include Orchestra, Young Enterprise, Debate, Gardening, DofE, and Model UN. SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, speech and language needs, visual impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder, with a resourced provision on site. Yate Academy is a good fit for families who want a secondary that’s academically solid at GCSE, with strong behaviour and leadership, and who are comfortable with a sixth form that’s still finding its feet in terms of A-level outcomes. The oversubscription suggests it’s a popular local choice, particularly for those who value the range of facilities and the inclusive SEND support.

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