Bedale High School
Fitzalan Road, Bedale, DL8 2EQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Interim Headteacher
- Mr Christopher Stokes
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Thirsk and Malton
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 700
- Pupils on roll
- 555
- URN
- 121670
- Local authority
- North Yorkshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01677422419
About this school
Bedale High School is a community secondary school in Bedale. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 555 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
- 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 | 90 | 101 | 101 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.1 | 42.0 | 46.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.48 -0.77 to -0.18 | -0.30 -0.58 to -0.02 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 30.7% | 39.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 57% | 59.4% | 73.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 24% | 25.7% | 34.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
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 Bedale High 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 | 40.1 | 41.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42 | 41.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 46.1 | 40.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 547 |
| 2023/24 | 566 |
| 2024/25 | 560 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bedale High School compares
Bedale High School ranked 21st of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 62% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46.1 | 8.8% | 21.3% | 555 | — |
| Northallerton School & Sixth Form College | 37.5 | 12.5% | 30% | 1,002 | 7.4 miles |
| Risedale School | 29.8 | 11.5% | 33.7% | 467 | 8.2 miles |
| Wensleydale School | 41.5 | 7.9% | 18.3% | 407 | 9.6 miles |
| Richmond School & Sixth Form College | 45.6 | 8% | 17.2% | 1,315 | 10.0 miles |
| St Francis Xavier School - a Joint Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Academy | 54.6 | 4.2% | 12.4% | 611 | 10.1 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)
- 21.25%
- English as an additional language
- 3.8%
- Overall absence
- 8.77%
- Persistent absence
- 18.93%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Northallerton School & Sixth Form College7.4 miles
Secondary · Northallerton
-
Risedale School8.2 miles
Secondary · Catterick Garrison
-
Wensleydale School9.6 miles
Secondary · Leyburn
-
Richmond School & Sixth Form College10.0 miles
Secondary · Richmond
-
St Francis Xavier School - a Joint Catholic and Church of England Voluntary Academy10.1 miles
Secondary · Richmond
Other schools in Bedale
- Bedale Church of England Primary School Primary
- Burneston Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Crakehall Church of England Primary School Primary
- Hunton and Arrathorne Community Primary School Primary
- Snape Community Primary School Primary
- Mowbray Academy Academies
- Aysgarth School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Bedale High School teach?
- Bedale High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Bedale.
- Who is the interim headteacher of Bedale High School?
- The interim headteacher of Bedale High School is Mr Christopher Stokes, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bedale High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bedale High 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 Bedale High School?
- Bedale High School has 555 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Bedale High School full?
- Bedale High School has capacity for 700 pupils and 555 on roll (79%), 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 Bedale High School a faith school?
- No. Bedale High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Bedale High School a selective school?
- No. Bedale High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Bedale High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.1 in 2022/23 and 46.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bedale High School rank locally?
- Bedale High School ranked 21st of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 62% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bedale High School's absence rate?
- Bedale High School's overall absence rate is 8.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bedale High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bedale High 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.