SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire

Harlington Upper School

Goswell End Road, Harlington, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 6NX

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01525755100

Ofsted

Goodas at 3 October 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 3 October 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

47.8 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

48% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

76% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.2 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

34% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the upper half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.34confidence interval -0.49 to -0.18

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as supp.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C
Average points per entry
31.4

England average 32.3

A level students
187

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1156
Places
1360
How full
85% full — 1156 of 1360 places taken
Girls / boys
570 / 586
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
20%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
13%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
4%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
83%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
47%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
305

After sixth form

Went to university
52%

England 50%

In education, work or training
86%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
122

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

18% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
63%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
142

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Central Bedfordshire 017C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
38%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
16%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
79%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
13%

England 17%

Households with no car
11%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
41%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 13–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE PYRAMID SCHOOLS TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Helen Harris
Local authority
Central Bedfordshire
Ward
Toddington
Constituency
Mid Bedfordshire
URN
137941

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Parkfields Middle SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 2.4 mi
Woodland Middle School AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 2.6 mi
Arnold AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 2.9 mi
Lealands High SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 44.3 3.4 mi
Redborne Upper School and Community CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 46.6 3.6 mi
Lea Manor High SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 36.3 3.7 mi
Houstone SchoolFree schools No grade 46.1 3.8 mi
Cardinal Newman Catholic School A Specialist Science CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 50 4.2 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Trinity Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 56.3
ArdenAcademy converter Good 2022 59.6
Bennett Memorial Diocesan SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 54
Tring SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 50.5
The Minster SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 55.9
St Peter's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2024 51.1
The Broxbourne SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 55.4
The King's (The Cathedral) SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 63.2

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.