SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Kendal, Westmorland and Furness

The Queen Katherine School

Appleby Road, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6PJ

Sixth form
School website 01539743900

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 6 May 2026.

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.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

48.8 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

50% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

67% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

30% 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 second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.08confidence interval -0.14 to 0.31

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
B-
Average points per entry
35

England average 32.3

A level students
74

Pupils

Pupils on roll
910
Places
1465
How full
62% full — 910 of 1465 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
483 / 427
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
19%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
18%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
99%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
82%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
49%
No sustained destination
1%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
148

After sixth form

Went to university
44%

England 50%

In education, work or training
90%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
77

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

37% 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
75%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
91

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 South Lakeland 003C, 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
37%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
14%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
75%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
3%

England 17%

Households with no car
17%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
35%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
CUMBRIA EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Jon Hayes
Ward
Kendal Nether
Constituency
Westmorland and Lonsdale
URN
136526

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Kirkbie Kendal SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 50.1 1.5 mi
Dallam SchoolAcademy converter No grade 44.1 7.8 mi
The Lakes SchoolCommunity school No grade 46.8 8.3 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
Dorothy Stringer SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 53.3
Willingdon Community SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 45
East Barnet SchoolAcademy converter No grade 53
King Edward VI Five Ways SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 75.9
St Mark's West Essex Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 46.3
Tapton School & Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 58
Cobham Free SchoolFree schools Good 2023 53.1
Hedingham School and Sixth FormAcademy converter Good 2023 39.9

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.