Solway Community School
Liddell Street, Silloth, Wigton, CA7 4DD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Tom Hailwood
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Federation
- Cumbria Futures Federation
- Constituency
- Penrith and Solway
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 295
- Pupils on roll
- 150
- URN
- 112377
- Local authority
- Cumberland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01697331234
About this school
Solway Community School is a community secondary school in Wigton. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 150 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 26 | 25 | 24 |
| Attainment 8 score | 33.5 | 24.0 | 35.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.29 -1.84 to -0.73 | -1.90 -2.47 to -1.34 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 12% | 4% | 8.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 42% | 20% | 50% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 50% | 36% | 37.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.9 | 2.2 | 3.2 |
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 Solway 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 | 33.5 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 24 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 35 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 137 |
| 2023/24 | 138 |
| 2024/25 | 146 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Solway Community School compares
Solway Community School ranked 17th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 27% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 35 | 7.5% | 34.9% | 150 | — |
| Beacon Hill Community School | 28.8 | 9.6% | 37.2% | 135 | 7.7 miles |
| Annan Academy | — | — | — | — | 9.2 miles |
| The Nelson Thomlinson School | 46.2 | 9.1% | 14.2% | 1,095 | 9.7 miles |
| Silloth Primary School | — | 5.4% | 21.1% | 185 | 0.1 miles |
| Holm Cultram Abbey CofE Primary School | — | 7.3% | 44.9% | 43 | 4.1 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)
- 34.93%
- English as an additional language
- 1.4%
- Overall absence
- 7.49%
- Persistent absence
- 16.67%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Beacon Hill Community School7.7 miles
Secondary · Wigton
-
Annan Academy9.2 miles
Secondary
-
The Nelson Thomlinson School9.7 miles
Secondary · Wigton
-
Silloth Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Wigton
-
Holm Cultram Abbey CofE Primary School4.1 miles
Primary · Wigton
Other schools in Wigton
- Beacon Hill 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 Solway Community School teach?
- Solway Community School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Wigton.
- Who is the headteacher of Solway Community School?
- The headteacher of Solway Community School is Mr Tom Hailwood, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Solway Community School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Solway 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 Solway Community School?
- Solway Community School has 150 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Solway Community School full?
- Solway Community School has capacity for 295 pupils and 150 on roll (51%), 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 Solway Community School a faith school?
- No. Solway Community School has no designated religious character.
- Is Solway Community School a selective school?
- No. Solway Community School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Solway Community School?
- Solway 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 Solway Community School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 33.5 in 2022/23 and 35 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Solway Community School rank locally?
- Solway Community School ranked 17th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 27% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Solway Community School's absence rate?
- Solway Community School's overall absence rate is 7.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Solway Community School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Solway 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.