The Lakes School
Troutbeck Bridge, Windermere, LA23 1HW
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Ms Sharon Rainey
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Westmorland and Lonsdale
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 851
- Pupils on roll
- 445
- URN
- 112379
- Local authority
- Westmorland and Furness
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01539440810
About this school
The Lakes School is a community secondary school in Windermere. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 445 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
A short monitoring inspection followed on : inspectors found that standards have been maintained.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 66 | 90 | 84 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.4 | 47.4 | 46.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.12 -0.47 to +0.23 | -0.11 -0.41 to +0.19 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 43.3% | 41.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 48% | 71.1% | 59.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 18% | 12.2% | 4.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
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 The Lakes 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 | Westmorland and Furness average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.4 | 37.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 47.4 | 40 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 46.8 | 41.9 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 469 |
| 2023/24 | 450 |
| 2024/25 | 439 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Lakes School compares
The Lakes School ranked 8th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 65% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 20% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46.8 | 7.6% | 14.1% | 445 | — |
| John Ruskin School | 52.9 | 5.7% | 12% | 247 | 6.4 miles |
| The Queen Katherine School | 48.8 | 7.7% | 19.4% | 910 | 8.3 miles |
| Kirkbie Kendal School | 50.1 | 7.1% | 15.9% | 1,029 | 8.9 miles |
| Windermere School | 25.4 | — | 0% | 226 | 1.4 miles |
| St Cuthberts Catholic Primary School, Windermere | — | 7.2% | 16.7% | 40 | 1.5 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.
Inspection history
-
Ungraded inspection report15 January 2025
- 19 November 2019
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 14.06%
- English as an additional language
- 11.6%
- Overall absence
- 7.58%
- Persistent absence
- 20.96%
Location
Nearby schools
-
John Ruskin School6.4 miles
Secondary · Coniston
-
The Queen Katherine School8.3 miles
Secondary · Kendal
-
Kirkbie Kendal School8.9 miles
Secondary · Kendal
-
Windermere School1.4 miles
Independent schools · The Lake District
-
St Cuthberts Catholic Primary School, Windermere1.5 miles
Primary · Windermere
Other schools in Windermere
Common questions
- What year groups does The Lakes School teach?
- The Lakes School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Windermere.
- Who is the headteacher of The Lakes School?
- The headteacher of The Lakes School is Ms Sharon Rainey, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Lakes School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Lakes 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 The Lakes School?
- The Lakes School has 445 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Lakes School full?
- The Lakes School has capacity for 851 pupils and 445 on roll (52%), 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 The Lakes School a faith school?
- No. The Lakes School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Lakes School a selective school?
- No. The Lakes School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- What SEN provision does The Lakes School have?
- The schools register lists The Lakes School's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Lakes School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.4 in 2022/23 and 46.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Lakes School rank locally?
- The Lakes School ranked 8th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 65% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 20% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Lakes School's absence rate?
- The Lakes School's overall absence rate is 7.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Lakes School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Lakes 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.