West Lakes Academy
Main Street, Egremont, CA22 2DQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- CHANGING LIVES LEARNING TRUST
- Principal
- Mr Stephen Grant
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Changing Lives Learning Trust
- Constituency
- Whitehaven and Workington
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,150
- Pupils on roll
- 1,017
- URN
- 135632
- Local authority
- Cumberland
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01946820356
About this school
West Lakes Academy is a secondary academy in Egremont. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,017 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
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Sixth form
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: special measures.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 209 | 197 | 181 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.7 | 42.0 | 40.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.37 -0.56 to -0.18 | -0.42 -0.62 to -0.21 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 35% | 36.5% | 32% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 59% | 52.8% | 51.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 68% | 45.2% | 24.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.5 |
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 West Lakes Academy 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 | 43.7 | 36.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.8 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,212 |
| 2023/24 | 1,148 |
| 2024/25 | 1,124 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How West Lakes Academy compares
West Lakes Academy ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.8 | 10% | 27.7% | 1,017 | — |
| The Whitehaven Academy | 39.7 | 8.7% | 32.2% | 859 | 3.9 miles |
| St Benedict's Catholic High School | 41.2 | 8.5% | 30.5% | 990 | 4.3 miles |
| Energy Coast UTC | 24.2 | 10.3% | 33% | 383 | 9.1 miles |
| St Bridget's Catholic Primary School | — | 3.8% | 31.9% | 198 | 0.2 miles |
| Bookwell Primary School | — | 3.4% | 13.9% | 194 | 0.3 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 27.65%
- English as an additional language
- 1.8%
- Overall absence
- 9.95%
- Persistent absence
- 24.09%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Whitehaven Academy3.9 miles
Secondary · Whitehaven
-
St Benedict's Catholic High School4.3 miles
Secondary · Whitehaven
-
Energy Coast UTC9.1 miles
Secondary · Workington
-
St Bridget's Catholic Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Egremont
-
Bookwell Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Egremont
Other schools in Egremont
- Bookwell Primary School Primary
- Orgill Primary School Primary
- St Bridget's Catholic Primary School Primary
- Thornhill Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does West Lakes Academy teach?
- West Lakes Academy teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Egremont.
- Who is the principal of West Lakes Academy?
- The principal of West Lakes Academy is Mr Stephen Grant, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was West Lakes Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected West Lakes Academy, 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 West Lakes Academy?
- West Lakes Academy has 1,017 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is West Lakes Academy full?
- West Lakes Academy has capacity for 1,150 pupils and 1,017 on roll (88%), 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 West Lakes Academy a faith school?
- No. West Lakes Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is West Lakes Academy a selective school?
- No. West Lakes Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs West Lakes Academy?
- West Lakes Academy is part of CHANGING LIVES LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have West Lakes Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.7 in 2022/23 and 40.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does West Lakes Academy rank locally?
- West Lakes Academy ranked 12th of 19 secondary schools in Cumberland for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is West Lakes Academy's absence rate?
- West Lakes Academy's overall absence rate is 10% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are West Lakes Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, West Lakes Academy'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 1 July 2026.