Baines School
Highcross Road, Poulton-le-Fylde, FY6 8BE
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Headteacher
- Mrs Clare Doherty
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Fylde
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 890
- Pupils on roll
- 726
- URN
- 119813
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01253883019
About this school
Baines School is a voluntary aided secondary school in Poulton-le-Fylde. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 726 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 no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 157 | 183 | 168 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.9 | 44.0 | 45.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.79 -1.01 to -0.56 | -0.59 -0.80 to -0.38 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 39% | 38.8% | 41.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62% | 61.2% | 65.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 13% | 9.3% | 19.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.6 | 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 Baines 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 | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.9 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 44 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 45.8 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 852 |
| 2023/24 | 846 |
| 2024/25 | 747 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Baines School compares
Baines School ranked 34th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 60% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 14% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45.8 | 8.5% | 31.6% | 726 | — |
| Blackpool Aspire Academy | 36.7 | 9.6% | 66.5% | 799 | 0.9 miles |
| Hodgson Academy | 49.5 | 6.3% | 18.3% | 1,121 | 0.9 miles |
| St Mary's Catholic Academy | 41.5 | 7.9% | 37.1% | 1,188 | 1.3 miles |
| Millfield Science & Performing Arts College | 48.5 | 7.1% | 22.1% | 877 | 2.1 miles |
| Montgomery Academy | 40 | 9% | 37.3% | 1,192 | 2.2 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
-
Graded inspection report24 March 2026
- 31 October 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 31.59%
- English as an additional language
- 3.1%
- Overall absence
- 8.47%
- Persistent absence
- 28.57%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Blackpool Aspire Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Blackpool
-
Hodgson Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Poulton-Le-Fylde
-
St Mary's Catholic Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Blackpool
-
Millfield Science & Performing Arts College2.1 miles
Secondary · Thornton-Cleveleys
-
Montgomery Academy2.2 miles
Secondary · Blackpool
Other schools in Poulton-le-Fylde
- Hodgson Academy Secondary
- Saint Aidan's Church of England High School Secondary
- Carleton Green Community Primary School Primary
- Carleton St Hilda's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall Primary
- Hambleton Primary Academy Primary
- Poulton-le-Fylde Carr Head Primary School Primary
- Poulton-le-Fylde St Chad's CofE Primary School Primary
- Poulton-le-Fylde the Breck Primary School Primary
- Preesall Fleetwood's Charity Church of England Primary School Primary
- Singleton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- St John's Catholic Primary School, Poulton-Le-Fylde Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Baines School teach?
- Baines School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Poulton-le-Fylde.
- Who is the headteacher of Baines School?
- The headteacher of Baines School is Mrs Clare Doherty, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Baines School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Baines 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 Baines School?
- Baines School has 726 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Baines School full?
- Baines School has capacity for 890 pupils and 726 on roll (82%), 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 Baines School a faith school?
- No. Baines School has no designated religious character.
- Is Baines School a selective school?
- No. Baines School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Baines School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.9 in 2022/23 and 45.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Baines School rank locally?
- Baines School ranked 34th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 60% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 14% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Baines School's absence rate?
- Baines School's overall absence rate is 8.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Baines School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Baines 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 30 June 2026.