SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Thirsk, North Yorkshire

Thirsk School & Sixth Form College

Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 1RZ

Sixth form
School website 01845522024
Ofsted Report card March 2026
Attainment 8 43.5 in the lower half nationally
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered

Ofsted

Report card24 March 2026

Ofsted report card published, on 24 March 2026.

The report card grades separate areas of the school's work. Ofsted does not combine them into one overall judgement.

Read the Ofsted report

Current published outcome
Report card — no overall grade
Last overall grade in this dataset
Not stored — this dataset keeps the latest inspection, which has no overall grade
Days since inspection
192 days
Framework era
Current framework (no overall grade)

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”.

Safeguarding
Met
Inclusion
Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching
Expected standard
Achievement
Expected standard
Attendance and behaviour
Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing
Expected standard
Post-16 provision
Expected standard
Leadership and governance
Expected standard

The report-card scale is Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention and Urgent improvement. Safeguarding is graded Met or Not met. These are separate judgements, not a league table or an overall score. How Ofsted's current grades work.

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

43.5 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

39% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

59% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

46% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower 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 bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.07confidence interval -0.27 to 0.13

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
C
Average points per entry
30.4

England average 32.3

A level students
42

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

About as many first choices as places. Of the 142 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
153

for entry into Year 7

Named it first choice
142
First choices per place
0.93

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
1029
Places
1255
How full
82% full — 1029 of 1255 places taken
Girls / boys
544 / 485
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
25%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
23%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
5%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
18%

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
1

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
8

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
1

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
12

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Thirsk Rail Station

1.7 km away — railway station

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
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
82%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
8%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
42%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
141

After sixth form

Went to university
44%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.4%

Started an apprenticeship
8%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
59

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

30% 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
60%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
53

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 area around the school

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£239,950

postcode sector YO7 1 · 356 sales

Typical range
£175,000 to £310,000

middle half of sales

Detached
£350,000
Semi-detached
£240,000
Terraced
£210,000
Flat
£127,500

Homes around this school are close to the England average.

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
31%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
23%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
12%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
14%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
49%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
75%

England 62.7%

Social housing
11%

England 17%

Privately rented
14%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
43%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
28%

England 22.5%

No car
13%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Hambleton 009F 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
Community school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Emma Lambden
Register status
Open
Local authority
North Yorkshire
Ward
Sowerby & Topcliffe
Constituency
Thirsk and Malton
URN
121666

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

1.20 2014/15: 0.84 first choices per place2015/16: 0.85 first choices per place2016/17: 0.93 first choices per place2017/18: 0.86 first choices per place2018/19: 0.93 first choices per place2019/20: 0.82 first choices per place2020/21: 0.90 first choices per place2021/22: 0.94 first choices per place2022/23: 1.05 first choices per place2023/24: 0.90 first choices per place2024/25: 0.89 first choices per place2025/26: 0.93 first choices per place2026/27: 0.93 first choices per place2014201620182020202220242026
All 13 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2014/15 154 129 0.84 100%
2015/16 158 134 0.85 100%
2016/17 157 146 0.93 100%
2017/18 164 141 0.86 100%
2018/19 163 152 0.93 100%
2019/20 197 162 0.82 99%
2020/21 168 152 0.90 100%
2021/22 171 160 0.94 100%
2022/23 175 183 1.05 94%
2023/24 154 139 0.90 99%
2024/25 180 160 0.89 100%
2025/26 172 160 0.93 99%
2026/27 153 142 0.93 100%

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
Queen Mary's SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 3.8 mi
Darwin SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 4.6 mi
Cundall Manor SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 5 mi
Northallerton School & Sixth Form CollegeAcademy sponsor led Report card 2026 37.5 -0.76-0.97 to -0.55 8.4 mi
Ripon Grammar SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 70.9 0.720.45 to 0.99 9.7 mi
Outwood Academy EasingwoldAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2022 52 0.550.30 to 0.80 9.8 mi
Outwood Academy RiponAcademy converter Good 2024 46.6 0.21-0.02 to 0.45 · not a win 9.8 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 43.5
Median of its 12 closest peers 44.7
North Yorkshire average 42.5
England average 47

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

SchoolAreaOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8Compare
The Wilnecote SchoolAcademy converter Tamworth Good 2022 38.7 -0.43-0.65 to -0.21
Dene Magna and Sixth FormAcademy converter Mitcheldean No overall grade 52.6 0.05-0.17 to 0.26 · not a win
Cowes Enterprise College, An Ormiston AcademyAcademy sponsor led Cowes Good 2023 42.7 -0.07-0.25 to 0.11 · not a win
Redmoor AcademyAcademy converter Hinckley Report card 2026 47.9 0.230.03 to 0.44
Wadebridge SchoolAcademy converter Wadebridge No overall grade 44.7 0.05-0.14 to 0.24 · not a win
Brimsham Green SchoolCommunity school Bristol No overall grade 44.9 0.270.04 to 0.49
Sir William Robertson Academy, WelbournAcademy converter Lincoln No overall grade 39.8 -0.04-0.26 to 0.19 · not a win
The Dormston SchoolCommunity school Dudley Good 2022 42.1 -0.44-0.62 to -0.25
The Burton Borough SchoolAcademy sponsor led Newport Requires improvement 2021 39.7 —
Budehaven Community SchoolFoundation school Bude Good 2024 45.4 -0.22-0.42 to -0.02
The Cedars AcademyAcademy converter Leicester Good 2023 45.1 -0.32-0.52 to -0.11
Aylesford School WarwickAcademy converter Warwick No overall grade 39.9 -0.36-0.58 to -0.14

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 121666; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 24 March 2026
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
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

Which exact school is this?

Match the DfE URN, school name and address; names and structures can change while the URN remains the stable identifier.

What does the latest inspection evidence say?

Use the inspection date and framework shown. Do not compare a legacy overall grade directly with the newer report-card judgements.

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?

Check current admissions rules, travel practicality, support for the child’s needs and the school’s latest official information before deciding.