Your child’s secondary school will see them through their GCSEs and perhaps even their A Levels, important qualifications that can have a big impact on their opportunities after school.
But it will also support them through the roller coaster that is the teenage years, when they will navigate all kinds of new social, emotional, and physical challenges alongside the academic ones. Choosing a school that can guide and educate them on how to weather these storms is crucial, and when there is more than one local school on offer, families will often find they have a choice to make.
We’ve created a league table ranking state-funded secondary schools from across Northamptonshire using their most recently-available ‘Progress 8’ scores (currently for the 2022/23 school year, until this year’s data has been finalised and published). This is a unique figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements, which helps the government to determine how quickly a school’s pupils are learning and progressing compared to their peers from similar primary schools nationwide. Any score above 0 is positive, but we’ve selected only schools with ‘above average’ to ‘well above average’ scores.
All schools on the list also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was dropped last month. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and student safeguarding were all found to either meet or exceed government standards last time the school was inspected.
Here were the secondary schools from across the North and West Northamptonshire council areas that made the cut:
1. Northampton Academy
Topping the list is Northampton Academy, a secondary school and sixth form in Northampton. Although it has Christian roots, it accepts pupils from all faiths. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, it had a very high Progress 8 score of 1.00 - firmly landing it a spot in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
2. Wootton Park School
Wootton Park is another secondary school and sixth form in Northampton, formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year, it too had a high Progress 8 score of 0.80 - earning it a place in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
3. Northampton School for Girls
This is a girls’ secondary school in Northampton, formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year it had a Progress 8 score of 0.68, placing it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
4. Sir Christopher Hatton Academy
Sir Christopher Hatton is a secondary school and sixth form in Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2022/23 school year it had a Progress 8 score of 0.59, earning it a place in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google