School league tables: a breakdown of Kirklees secondary school performance following release of Department for Education data

Data revealing the performance of secondary schools in England for the year 2023 to 2024 was published by the Department for Education (DfE) last week (December 5), ranking schools within their relevant local authorities – including Kirklees – on a range of accountability measures.

Taking a closer look at how Kirklees performed compared to the national picture, the majority of schools – 19 out of 26 – which provided Progress 8 data achieved at least average Progress 8 scores.

A further breakdown reveals that two achieved “well above average” and seven achieved “above average” results. On a regional level, Kirklees was one of seven of the 15 local authorities in Yorkshire and The Humber which achieved an average Progress 8 score of zero or above. The average Progress 8 score for the region was -0.09, and -0.03 for England.

Progress 8 scores show how much progress pupils made between the end of key stage 2 – Year 6 – and the end of key stage 4 – Year 11 –compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2, based on results in up to 8 qualifications.

According to the DfE, a score above zero “means pupils made more progress, on average, than pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2”, a score below zero “means pupils made less progress, on average, than pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2”, and a negative progress score does not mean pupils made no progress, or the school has failed, but that “pupils in the school made less progress than other pupils across England with similar results at the end of key stage 2.”

Progress 8 scores are ranked as: “well below average” if below -0.5; “below average” if below zero but greater than or equal to -0.5; “average” if the confidence interval spans both above and below zero; “above average” if the score is greater than zero but lower than 0.5; and “well above average” if the score is greater than or equal to 0.5.

The top 10 schools in Kirklees for which Progress 8 scores were available this year were: Heckmondwike Grammar School; Holmfirth High School; BBG Academy; Moor End Academy; Thornhill Community Academy; Honley High School; Manor Croft Academy; Batley Girls' High School; Salendine Nook High School Academy; and Westborough High School, with scores ranging from 0.17 to 0.97.

Although other accountability measures are also used to evaluate a school’s effectiveness, Progress 8 scores are seen as a good way to track a pupil’s progress compared with pupils who started at a similar level.

Peter Roberts is the Headteacher at Heckmondwike Grammar School, which not only performed the best in Kirklees – achieving an average Progress 8 score of 0.97, compared with the national average of -0.03 – but recently gained national recognition, receiving two awards in the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2025: Secondary School of the Year 2025 in the North of England, and Secondary School of the Year for Academic Excellence 2025 – ranked number one in the North of England.

Peter supports the use of Progress 8 scores in evaluating a school’s effectiveness: “For me, I agree with the Progress 8 system.”

He added that, whilst there could never be a “foolproof system” as regards accountability measures, other measures such as attainment benefit the schools with the most able students, whereas Progress 8 scores measure “the most important thing”, which is “how much added value a school gives to its students.”

Speaking about the school’s recent achievements, Peter said: “We are absolutely delighted and thrilled by the result.”

When asked about why he thinks the school has performed so well, and has continued to do so over a sustained period of time, Peter gave two reasons: firstly, its approach to GCSE choice, and secondly the extracurricular opportunities the school offers.

Heckmondwike Grammar School requires all students to sit 10 GCSEs as a minimum, with four subjects being chosen by the students themselves. Peter said this choice allows the students “to specialise in something they really want to do, making them more likely to succeed.”

Whilst the school’s official motto – “Nil Sine Labore”, or “Nothing Without Work” – emphasises its encouragement of fostering a strong work ethic, the school also has an unwritten motto of “work hard, play hard”, which is reflected in the over 100 extracurricular clubs the school offers its students. Peter said being able to relax and let your hair down outside of working hard is very important, and that the vast majority of the school’s students attend these clubs.

Other local authorities within Yorkshire and The Humber which achieved average Progress 8 scores of average or higher were Calderdale, Doncaster, Leeds, North Yorkshire, Wakefield, and York. The highest performing local authority under this accountability measure was York (0.13) and the lowest was Kingston upon Hull (-0.52). Kirklees ranked joint third in Yorkshire and The Humber with an average Progress 8 score of 0.06, along with North Yorkshire. The biggest proportion of schools in Kirklees achieved an “average” score (10 schools), followed by seven schools achieving “above average”, four “well below average”, three “below average”, and two schools “well above average”.