Brighouse High School
Finkil Street, Brighouse, HD6 2NY
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- BRIGHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Richard Horsfield
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Calder Valley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,430
- Pupils on roll
- 1,317
- URN
- 136604
- Local authority
- Calderdale
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01484710408
About this school
Brighouse High School is a secondary academy in Brighouse. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,317 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Brighouse High School, and its latest judgement is set out 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 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
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 201 | 208 | 203 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.7 | 44.7 | 40.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.31 -0.50 to -0.11 | -0.24 -0.44 to -0.05 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 40% | 38.5% | 31% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 64.4% | 55.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 16% | 21.2% | 20.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.4 |
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 Brighouse 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 | Calderdale average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.7 | 39.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 44.7 | 39 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40 | 37.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,299 |
| 2023/24 | 1,308 |
| 2024/25 | 1,302 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Brighouse High School compares
Brighouse High School ranked 10th of 11 secondary schools in Calderdale for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 39% 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 | 40 | 8.6% | 22.8% | 1,317 | — |
| Lightcliffe Academy | 38.5 | 9.4% | 32.7% | 788 | 0.7 miles |
| Rastrick High School | 49.9 | 7.7% | 23.9% | 1,774 | 1.2 miles |
| Park Lane Academy | 40.9 | 8.6% | 56.4% | 481 | 2.4 miles |
| All Saints Catholic College | 44.9 | 7.2% | 31.3% | 899 | 2.6 miles |
| Whitcliffe Mount, A Share Academy | 42.7 | 7.4% | 27.1% | 1,228 | 2.9 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 22.83%
- English as an additional language
- 3.1%
- Overall absence
- 8.59%
- Persistent absence
- 25.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Lightcliffe Academy0.7 miles
Secondary · Halifax
-
Rastrick High School1.2 miles
Secondary · Brighouse
-
Park Lane Academy2.4 miles
Secondary · Halifax
-
All Saints Catholic College2.6 miles
Secondary · Huddersfield
-
Whitcliffe Mount, A Share Academy2.9 miles
Secondary · Cleckheaton
Other schools in Brighouse
- Rastrick High School Secondary
- Bailiffe Bridge Junior and Infant School Primary
- Carr Green Primary School Primary
- Field Lane Primary School Primary
- Longroyde Primary School Primary
- St Andrew's Church of England (VA) Infant School Primary
- St Andrew's CofE (VA) Junior School Primary
- St John's (CofE) Primary Academy, Clifton Primary
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse Primary
- Trinity Academy St Chad's Primary
- Woodhouse Primary School Primary
- Highbury School Special schools
Common questions
- What ages does Brighouse High School teach?
- Brighouse High School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Brighouse.
- Who is the headteacher of Brighouse High School?
- The headteacher of Brighouse High School is Mr Richard Horsfield, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Brighouse High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Brighouse 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 many pupils are at Brighouse High School?
- Brighouse High School has 1,317 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Brighouse High School full?
- Brighouse High School has capacity for 1,430 pupils and 1,317 on roll (92%), 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 Brighouse High School a faith school?
- No. Brighouse High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Brighouse High School a selective school?
- No. Brighouse High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Brighouse High School part of an academy trust?
- Brighouse High School is part of BRIGHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Brighouse High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.7 in 2022/23 and 40 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Brighouse High School compare with other schools in Calderdale?
- Brighouse High School ranked 10th of 11 secondary schools in Calderdale for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 39% 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 Brighouse High School's absence rate?
- Brighouse High School's overall absence rate is 8.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Brighouse High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Brighouse 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 15 July 2026.