Accrington Academy
Queens Road West, Accrington, BB5 4FF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Christian
- Trust
- UNITED LEARNING TRUST
- Principal
- Ms Melanie Haselden
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- United Learning Trust
- Constituency
- Hyndburn
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,150
- Pupils on roll
- 953
- URN
- 135649
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01254304300
About this school
Accrington Academy is a Christian secondary academy in Accrington. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 953 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- 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 | 183 | 188 | 186 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.6 | 39.7 | 39.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.40 -0.61 to -0.19 | -0.62 -0.83 to -0.42 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 30% | 34% | 38.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 55% | 56.9% | 56.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 56% | 51.1% | 52.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
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 Accrington 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 | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.6 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.7 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.4 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,090 |
| 2023/24 | 1,051 |
| 2024/25 | 993 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Accrington Academy compares
Accrington Academy ranked 62nd of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.4 | 10.4% | 41.2% | 953 | — |
| Accrington St Christopher's Church of England High School | 50.7 | 6.2% | 14.6% | 1,280 | 0.2 miles |
| Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School, Hyndburn | 42.7 | 9.4% | 33% | 801 | 1.2 miles |
| Rhyddings | 36.5 | 11.7% | 47.3% | 610 | 1.3 miles |
| The Hollins | 40.7 | 7.8% | 33.8% | 794 | 1.8 miles |
| The Hyndburn Academy | 37.4 | 7.6% | 43.9% | 641 | 2.0 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)
- 41.18%
- English as an additional language
- 22.9%
- Overall absence
- 10.41%
- Persistent absence
- 30.06%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Accrington St Christopher's Church of England High School0.2 miles
Secondary · Accrington
-
Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School, Hyndburn1.2 miles
Secondary · Accrington
-
Rhyddings1.3 miles
Secondary · Accrington
-
The Hollins1.8 miles
Secondary · Accrington
-
The Hyndburn Academy2.0 miles
Secondary · Blackburn
Other schools in Accrington
Accrington Academy ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Accrington.
- Accrington St Christopher's Church of England High School Secondary
- Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School, Hyndburn Secondary
- Rhyddings Secondary
- The Hollins Secondary
- Fairfield Nursery School Nursery
- Lee Royd Nursery School Nursery
- Accrington Benjamin Hargreaves Church of England Primary School Primary
- Accrington Huncoat Primary School Primary
- Accrington Hyndburn Park Primary School Primary
- Accrington Peel Park Primary School Primary
- Accrington Spring Hill Community Primary School Primary
- Accrington St John with St Augustine Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Accrington Academy teach?
- Accrington Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Accrington.
- Who is the principal of Accrington Academy?
- The principal of Accrington Academy is Ms Melanie Haselden, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Accrington Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Accrington 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 Accrington Academy?
- Accrington Academy has 953 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Accrington Academy full?
- Accrington Academy has capacity for 1,150 pupils and 953 on roll (83%), 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 Accrington Academy a faith school?
- Yes. Accrington Academy is designated Christian.
- Is Accrington Academy a selective school?
- No. Accrington Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Accrington Academy?
- Accrington Academy is part of UNITED LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Accrington Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.6 in 2022/23 and 39.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Accrington Academy rank locally?
- Accrington Academy ranked 62nd of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Accrington Academy's absence rate?
- Accrington Academy's overall absence rate is 10.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Accrington Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Accrington 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.