The Queen Katherine School
Appleby Road, Kendal, LA9 6PJ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- CUMBRIA EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Jon Hayes
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Cumbria Education Trust
- SEN provision
- PD - Physical Disability
- Constituency
- Westmorland and Lonsdale
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,465
- Pupils on roll
- 910
- URN
- 136526
- Local authority
- Westmorland and Furness
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01539743900
About this school
The Queen Katherine School is a secondary academy in Kendal. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 910 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 148 | 160 | 165 |
| Attainment 8 score | 50.5 | 49.1 | 48.8 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.33 +0.10 to +0.56 | +0.08 -0.14 to +0.31 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 55% | 45% | 49.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 71% | 66.3% | 67.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 35% | 36.3% | 30.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.3 |
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 The Queen Katherine 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 | Westmorland and Furness average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 50.5 | 37.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 49.1 | 40 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48.8 | 41.9 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 950 |
| 2023/24 | 936 |
| 2024/25 | 917 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Queen Katherine School compares
The Queen Katherine School ranked 5th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 72% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48.8 | 7.7% | 19.4% | 910 | — |
| Kirkbie Kendal School | 50.1 | 7.1% | 15.9% | 1,029 | 1.5 miles |
| Dallam School | 44.1 | 9.7% | 14.9% | 761 | 7.8 miles |
| The Lakes School | 46.8 | 7.6% | 14.1% | 445 | 8.3 miles |
| Settlebeck School | 44 | 9% | 13.3% | 203 | 8.7 miles |
| Queen Elizabeth Studio School | 37.8 | 8.8% | 10.2% | 329 | 10.9 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
-
Graded inspection report6 May 2026
- 30 March 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 19.41%
- English as an additional language
- 7.7%
- Overall absence
- 7.74%
- Persistent absence
- 20.42%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Kirkbie Kendal School1.5 miles
Secondary · Kendal
-
Dallam School7.8 miles
Secondary · Cumbria
-
The Lakes School8.3 miles
Secondary · Windermere
-
Settlebeck School8.7 miles
Secondary · Sedbergh
-
Queen Elizabeth Studio School10.9 miles
Secondary
Other schools in Kendal
- Kirkbie Kendal School Secondary
- Kendal Nursery School Nursery
- Castle Park School Primary
- Crosscrake CofE Primary School Primary
- Crosthwaite CofE School Primary
- Dean Gibson Catholic Primary School, Kendal Primary
- Ghyllside Primary School Primary
- Grayrigg CofE School Primary
- Heron Hill Primary School Primary
- Levens CofE School Primary
- Old Hutton CofE School Primary
- Selside Endowed CofE Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Queen Katherine School teach?
- The Queen Katherine School teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Kendal.
- Who is the headteacher of The Queen Katherine School?
- The headteacher of The Queen Katherine School is Mr Jon Hayes, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Queen Katherine School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Queen Katherine 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 The Queen Katherine School?
- The Queen Katherine School has 910 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is The Queen Katherine School full?
- The Queen Katherine School has capacity for 1,465 pupils and 910 on roll (62%), 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 The Queen Katherine School a faith school?
- No. The Queen Katherine School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Queen Katherine School a selective school?
- No. The Queen Katherine School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Queen Katherine School?
- The Queen Katherine School is part of CUMBRIA EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Queen Katherine School have?
- The schools register lists The Queen Katherine School's special educational needs provision as: PD - Physical Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Queen Katherine School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 50.5 in 2022/23 and 48.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Queen Katherine School rank locally?
- The Queen Katherine School ranked 5th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 72% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Queen Katherine School's absence rate?
- The Queen Katherine School's overall absence rate is 7.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Queen Katherine School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Queen Katherine 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 15 July 2026.