Secondary school in Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire
Houstone School
Parkside Drive, Houghton Regis, Dunstable, LU5 5PX
Ofsted
Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 20 May 2025.
Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle of state-funded secondaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.
Progress 8 2023/24
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.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 765
- Places
- 900
- How full
- 85% full — 765 of 900 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 399 / 366
- Overall absence
- 7%
- Persistently absent
- 23%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 29%
- English as an additional language
- 34%
- With an EHC plan
- 4%
- On SEN support
- 12%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Central Bedfordshire 025A, 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
- 28%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 16%
- Households owning their home
- 70%
- Households in social housing
- 3%
- Households with no car
- 11%
- Adults economically inactive
- 26%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- ADVANTAGE SCHOOLS
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Elizabeth English
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Houghton Regis East
- Constituency
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- URN
- 149107
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Chalk Hills AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 45.7 | 1.3 mi |
| Lealands High SchoolFoundation school | Good 2023 | 44.3 | 1.4 mi |
| King's House MoorlandsOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.7 mi |
| Al Hikmah Boys SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.7 mi |
| All Saints Academy DunstableAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 36.9 | 1.7 mi |
| Challney High School for GirlsAcademy converter | No grade | 50.1 | 1.8 mi |
| Challney High School for BoysAcademy converter | Outstanding 2023 | 47.7 | 2 mi |
| Priory AcademyAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 46.2 | 2.1 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.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Haydon SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 46 |
| Avonbourne Girls AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 53 |
| Sir William Robertson Academy, WelbournAcademy converter | No grade | 39.8 |
| The King's SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 49.9 |
| University Technical College NorfolkUniversity technical college | No grade | 49.8 |
| St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 40.5 |
| Sacred Heart Catholic SecondaryAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 50.4 |
| Friesland SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 44.1 |
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.