SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Lowestoft, Suffolk

Pakefield High School

London Road Pakefield, Pakefield, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 7AQ

Ofsted Good · 2023
School website 01502530750
Ofsted Good September 2023
Attainment 8 38.4 in the bottom quarter nationally
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 5/10 mid-range

Ofsted

Goodas at 27 September 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 27 September 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 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

Current published outcome
Good
Last overall grade in this dataset
Good
Days since inspection
1,101 days
Framework era
Historic overall-grade framework (ended September 2024)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

38.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

28% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

57% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

5% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.53confidence interval -0.79 to -0.27

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

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.

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

About as many first choices as places. Of the 100 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
104

for entry into Year 7

Named it first choice
100
First choices per place
0.96

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
100%

England 88.5%

Demand has been broadly steady over three years.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
679
Places
900
How full
75% full — 679 of 900 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
324 / 355
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
28%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
40%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
3%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
19%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
0

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
11

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
0
Busiest road nearby
A12

21,604 vehicles a day (2025)

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
21

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Entrance3

2.6 km away — railway station

Traffic volume is the context the collision count needs: a school beside a major road will record more collisions than one on a quiet street without being any less well run.

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
90%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
86%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
2%
No sustained destination
8%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
155

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

The area around the school

5/10 Deprivation decile

Among around the middle for England.

7/10 Child poverty decile

Among the less deprived half of England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£216,500

postcode sector NR33 7 · 366 sales

Typical range
£180,000 to £270,500

middle half of sales

Detached
£280,000
Semi-detached
£226,000
Terraced
£181,500
Flat
£100,000

Homes around this school are cheaper than most of England.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
25%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
25%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
8%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
20%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
39%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
78%

England 62.7%

Social housing
3%

England 17%

Privately rented
19%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
35%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
19%

England 22.5%

No car
17%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for East Suffolk 012E and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–16
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Philip Dougherty
Opened as this establishment
1 April 2019
Register status
Open
Local authority
Suffolk
Ward
Kirkley & Pakefield
Constituency
Lowestoft
URN
146909

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Year 7

1.10 2020/21: 0.65 first choices per place2021/22: 0.87 first choices per place2022/23: 0.99 first choices per place2023/24: 0.94 first choices per place2024/25: 0.96 first choices per place2025/26: 0.98 first choices per place2026/27: 0.96 first choices per place2020202220242026
All 7 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2020/21 135 88 0.65 100%
2021/22 99 86 0.87 100%
2022/23 133 132 0.99 100%
2023/24 135 127 0.94 100%
2024/25 124 119 0.96 100%
2025/26 158 155 0.98 100%
2026/27 104 100 0.96 100%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8DistanceCompare
East Point AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 39.5 -0.39-0.61 to -0.16 1.3 mi
Ormiston Denes AcademyAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 40.5 -0.38-0.62 to -0.15 3 mi
Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and MathematicsAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 44.9 -0.12-0.30 to 0.06 · not a win 3.3 mi
Beccles High SchoolFree schools Requires improvement 2024 27.6 -1.15-1.48 to -0.81 6.4 mi
Sir John Leman High SchoolAcademy converter Report card 2026 44.8 -0.22-0.40 to -0.04 7 mi
Cliff Park Ormiston AcademyAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 35.9 -0.70-0.92 to -0.48 7.8 mi
Ormiston Venture AcademyAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 47.3 0.510.30 to 0.73 8.3 mi
Saint Felix SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 8.4 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 38.4
Median of its 12 closest peers 36.1
Suffolk average 40.4
England average 47

Attainment 8 score. This school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8Compare
Rye CollegeAcademy converter Rye Good 2023 36.8 -0.85-1.13 to -0.56
North Gosforth AcademyAcademy sponsor led Newcastle-upon-Tyne No overall grade 43.9 -0.55-0.84 to -0.26
Withernsea High SchoolCommunity school Withernsea No overall grade 38.9 -0.38-0.60 to -0.16
The Dukeries AcademyAcademy sponsor led Newark Report card 2026 34.8 -0.28-0.54 to -0.02
Mercia AcademyAcademy sponsor led Swadlincote No overall grade 32.6 -0.27-0.57 to 0.02 · not a win
Lift TamworthAcademy sponsor led Tamworth No overall grade 36.1 -0.63-0.88 to -0.39
Outwood Academy HaydockAcademy sponsor led St. Helens No overall grade 41.2 -0.28-0.50 to -0.06
Staffordshire University AcademyAcademy sponsor led Cannock Good 2023 32.9 -0.74-1.01 to -0.47
The Mosslands SchoolCommunity school Wallasey Requires improvement 2024 35.2 -0.83-1.04 to -0.63
University Academy Long SuttonAcademy sponsor led Spalding Report card 2026 32.4 -0.68-0.91 to -0.44
Shrewsbury AcademyAcademy converter Shrewsbury Requires improvement 2024 33.2 -0.55-0.77 to -0.33
Louth AcademyAcademy sponsor led Louth Good 2022 45 0.420.21 to 0.64

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 146909; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 27 September 2023
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
Progress 8DfE performance tables2023/24Exact URN; confidence interval retained
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

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What does the latest inspection evidence say?

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How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

What must a parent verify?

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