Whitby School
Prospect Hill, Whitby, YO21 1LA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Principal
- Miss Julie Caddell
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication
- Constituency
- Scarborough and Whitby
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,539
- Pupils on roll
- 975
- URN
- 121667
- Local authority
- North Yorkshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01947601901
About this school
Whitby School is a community secondary school in Whitby. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 975 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
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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 117 | 105 | 225 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.0 | 43.9 | 39.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.20 -0.46 to +0.06 | -0.10 -0.37 to +0.18 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 34% | 41.9% | 32% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 56% | 56.2% | 50.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 34% | 24.8% | 14.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
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 Whitby 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 | North Yorkshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 43 | 41.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.9 | 41.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.5 | 40.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 13.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 780 |
| 2023/24 | 832 |
| 2024/25 | 1,041 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Whitby School compares
Whitby School ranked 35th of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 37% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.5 | 13.1% | 26.9% | 975 | — |
| International Christian Language School for Functional English | — | — | — | — | 0.2 miles |
| Stakesby Primary Academy | — | 5.3% | 32.4% | 212 | 0.3 miles |
| Airy Hill Primary School | — | 6.2% | 31.3% | 185 | 0.4 miles |
| West Cliff Primary School | — | 6.1% | 19.5% | 159 | 0.5 miles |
| Ruswarp Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | — | 6.4% | 13.3% | 36 | 0.8 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
- 7 November 2023
-
Ungraded inspection report17 February 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 26.94%
- English as an additional language
- 1.5%
- Overall absence
- 13.11%
- Persistent absence
- 37.03%
Location
Nearby schools
-
International Christian Language School for Functional English0.2 miles
Other types · Whitby
-
Stakesby Primary Academy0.3 miles
Primary · Whitby
-
Airy Hill Primary School0.4 miles
Primary · Whitby
-
West Cliff Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Whitby
-
Ruswarp Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Whitby
Other schools in Whitby
- Airy Hill Primary School Primary
- Castleton Primary School Primary
- Danby Church of England Voluntary Aided School Primary
- East Whitby Primary Academy Primary
- Egton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Fylingdales Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Glaisdale Primary School Primary
- Goathland Primary School Primary
- Hawsker Cum Stainsacre Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Lealholm Primary School Primary
- Lythe Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Ruswarp Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Whitby School teach?
- Whitby School teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Whitby.
- Who is the principal of Whitby School?
- The principal of Whitby School is Miss Julie Caddell, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Whitby School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Whitby 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 Whitby School?
- Whitby School has 975 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Whitby School full?
- Whitby School has capacity for 1,539 pupils and 975 on roll (63%), 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 Whitby School a faith school?
- No. Whitby School has no designated religious character.
- Is Whitby School a selective school?
- No. Whitby School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- What SEN provision does Whitby School have?
- The schools register lists Whitby School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Whitby School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43 in 2022/23 and 39.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Whitby School rank locally?
- Whitby School ranked 35th of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 37% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Whitby School's absence rate?
- Whitby School's overall absence rate is 13.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Whitby School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Whitby 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.