School is back in session, and for many secondary school pupils across West Yorkshire, an important year of exams and qualifications has now begun.
The summer holidays are now over for most young Yorkshire learners, with the 2025/26 school year kicking off this week. Among the children returning to the classroom will be thousands of recent primary school leavers making the leap to secondary school, as well as a brand new cohort taking on their GCSEs.
To mark the start of the new school year, we’ve revisited the top performing state secondary schools across West Yorkshire’s major local authority areas - Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield - based on our own ‘gold standard’ for schools. The key figure this uses is each school’s latest Progress 8 score, an official figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements which helps to determine how quickly its pupils progressed compared to peers from similar starting points.
Any score above 0 is positive, but we’ve only included those above 0.5, considered ‘well above average’, or towards the very top of the ‘above average’ band. It is worth noting that this data has now been finalised, so results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results.
But exam results aren’t the only measure of what makes a school a great place to learn, so we’ve also made sure all schools included had positive ratings in their latest Ofsted inspections. These are going through an overhaul at the moment, but only those with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system or positive ratings across all categories under the current one have made the list. This means that quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices have all met or exceeded Government standards.
Here are the 24 West Yorkshire schools that came out on top:
1. Heckmondwike Grammar School
At the top of this list is this selective secondary academy and sixth form in Heckmondwike, in the Kirklees borough. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 1. | Google
2. The Ruth Gorse Academy
Next up is The Ruth Gorse Academy, a secondary free school in Leeds. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.99. | Google
3. Allerton High School
This is a local authority-maintained secondary school and sixth form towards the north of Leeds, most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.89. | National World
4. Mount St Mary's Catholic High School
Mount St Mary’s is a maintained Catholic secondary school, again in Leeds. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.86. | Google
5. Cockburn School
This is a secondary academy in Leeds, most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.72. | Google
6. Dixons Trinity Academy
Dixons Trinity is a secondary free school in Bradford. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all categories. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.72. | Google