Balcarras School
East End Road, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, GL53 8QF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- THE BALCARRAS TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Dominic Burke
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Cheltenham
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,359
- Pupils on roll
- 1,427
- URN
- 136474
- Local authority
- Gloucestershire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01242515881
About this school
Balcarras School is a secondary academy in Cheltenham. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,427 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
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Sixth form
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 194 | 217 | 194 |
| Attainment 8 score | 60.2 | 62.4 | 58.5 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.70 +0.50 to +0.91 | +0.83 +0.63 to +1.03 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 78% | 80.2% | 66.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 88% | 89.4% | 84% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 60% | 47.9% | 47.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.2 |
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 Balcarras 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 | Gloucestershire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 60.2 | 43.3 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 62.4 | 44.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 58.5 | 44.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,383 |
| 2023/24 | 1,422 |
| 2024/25 | 1,429 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Balcarras School compares
Balcarras School ranked 8th of 39 secondary schools in Gloucestershire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 92% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 61% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58.5 | 5% | 6.4% | 1,427 | — |
| The High School Leckhampton | — | 5.2% | 8.7% | 759 | 2.1 miles |
| Pittville School | 47.5 | 10.2% | 32.8% | 858 | 2.3 miles |
| Cheltenham Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre | 48.1 | 9.6% | 22% | 1,846 | 2.4 miles |
| Pate's Grammar School | 82.7 | 4.5% | 3.8% | 1,288 | 3.5 miles |
| All Saints' Academy, Cheltenham | 38.5 | 9.7% | 38% | 1,100 | 3.6 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)
- 6.37%
- English as an additional language
- 3.7%
- Overall absence
- 4.98%
- Persistent absence
- 9.82%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The High School Leckhampton2.1 miles
Secondary · Cheltenham
-
Pittville School2.3 miles
Secondary · Cheltenham
-
Cheltenham Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre2.4 miles
Secondary · Cheltenham
-
Pate's Grammar School3.5 miles
Secondary · Cheltenham
-
All Saints' Academy, Cheltenham3.6 miles
Secondary · Cheltenham
Other schools in Cheltenham
Balcarras School ranks 2nd of the 8 ranked secondary schools in Cheltenham.
- All Saints' Academy, Cheltenham Secondary
- Cheltenham Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre Secondary
- Cleeve School Secondary
- Pate's Grammar School Secondary
- Pittville School Secondary
- The Cotswold Academy Secondary
- The High School Leckhampton Secondary
- Winchcombe School Secondary
- Andoversford Primary School Primary
- Benhall Infant School Primary
- Bishops Cleeve Primary Academy Primary
- Bourton-on-the-Water Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Balcarras School teach?
- Balcarras School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Cheltenham.
- Who is the headteacher of Balcarras School?
- The headteacher of Balcarras School is Mr Dominic Burke, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Balcarras School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Balcarras 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 Balcarras School?
- Balcarras School has 1,427 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Balcarras School full?
- Balcarras School has capacity for 1,359 pupils and 1,427 on roll (105%), so it is at or above 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 Balcarras School a faith school?
- No. Balcarras School has no designated religious character.
- Is Balcarras School a selective school?
- No. Balcarras School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Balcarras School?
- Balcarras School is part of THE BALCARRAS TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Balcarras School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 60.2 in 2022/23 and 58.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Balcarras School rank locally?
- Balcarras School ranked 8th of 39 secondary schools in Gloucestershire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 92% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 61% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Balcarras School's absence rate?
- Balcarras School's overall absence rate is 5% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Balcarras School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Balcarras 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 1 July 2026.