Beacon Hill Community School
Market Square, Aspatria, Wigton, CA7 3EZ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Executive Headteacher
- Mr Tom Hailwood
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Federation
- Cumbria Futures Federation
- Constituency
- Penrith and Solway
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 350
- Pupils on roll
- 135
- URN
- 112375
- Local authority
- Cumberland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01697320509
About this school
Beacon Hill Community School is a community secondary school in Wigton. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 135 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 23 | 32 | 30 |
| Attainment 8 score | 27.8 | 30.7 | 28.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.18 -1.76 to -0.60 | -1.37 -1.87 to -0.87 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 4% | 21.9% | 13.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 17% | 31.3% | 30% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 48% | 62.5% | 36.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Beacon Hill Community School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Cumberland average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 27.8 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 30.7 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 28.8 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 147 |
| 2023/24 | 141 |
| 2024/25 | 137 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Beacon Hill Community School compares
Beacon Hill Community School ranked 18th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 28.8 | 9.6% | 37.2% | 135 | — |
| Cockermouth School | 51.9 | 9% | 15.4% | 1,254 | 6.7 miles |
| Netherhall School | 39.7 | 6.6% | 39% | 894 | 6.9 miles |
| Solway Community School | 35 | 7.5% | 34.9% | 150 | 7.7 miles |
| The Nelson Thomlinson School | 46.2 | 9.1% | 14.2% | 1,095 | 8.1 miles |
| Workington Academy | 40.5 | 7.3% | 31.3% | 1,234 | 11.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 37.23%
- English as an additional language
- 1.5%
- Overall absence
- 9.56%
- Persistent absence
- 21.99%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Cockermouth School6.7 miles
Secondary · Cockermouth
-
Netherhall School6.9 miles
Secondary · Maryport
-
Solway Community School7.7 miles
Secondary · Wigton
-
The Nelson Thomlinson School8.1 miles
Secondary · Wigton
-
Workington Academy11.6 miles
Secondary · Workington
Other schools in Wigton
- Solway Community School Secondary
- The Nelson Thomlinson School Secondary
- Blennerhasset School Primary
- Boltons CofE School Primary
- Bowness-on-Solway Primary School Primary
- Fellview Primary School Primary
- Holm Cultram Abbey CofE Primary School Primary
- Ireby CofE School Primary
- Kirkbride Primary School Primary
- Oughterside Primary School Primary
- Plumbland CofE School Primary
- Richmond Hill School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Beacon Hill Community School teach?
- Beacon Hill Community School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Wigton.
- Who is the executive headteacher of Beacon Hill Community School?
- The executive headteacher of Beacon Hill Community School is Mr Tom Hailwood, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Beacon Hill Community School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Beacon Hill Community School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Beacon Hill Community School?
- Beacon Hill Community School has 135 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Beacon Hill Community School full?
- Beacon Hill Community School has capacity for 350 pupils and 135 on roll (39%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Beacon Hill Community School a faith school?
- No. Beacon Hill Community School has no designated religious character.
- Is Beacon Hill Community School a selective school?
- No. Beacon Hill Community School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Beacon Hill Community School?
- Beacon Hill Community School is part of the Cumbria Futures Federation federation. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Beacon Hill Community School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 27.8 in 2022/23 and 28.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Beacon Hill Community School rank locally?
- Beacon Hill Community School ranked 18th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 9% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Beacon Hill Community School's absence rate?
- Beacon Hill Community School's overall absence rate is 9.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Beacon Hill Community School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Beacon Hill Community School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.