Beccles High School
Castle Hill, Beccles, NR34 7BQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- SAPIENTIA EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Christopher Barns
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Sapientia Education Trust
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Lowestoft
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 600
- Pupils on roll
- 182
- URN
- 138274
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01502718850
About this school
Beccles High School is a secondary academy in Beccles. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 182 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Beccles 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- 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 | 47 | 71 | 67 |
| Attainment 8 score | 28.4 | 30.9 | 27.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.68 -2.11 to -1.26 | -1.15 -1.48 to -0.81 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 19% | 16.9% | 17.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 34% | 40.8% | 31.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 6% | 0% | 10.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
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 Beccles 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 | Suffolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 28.4 | 37.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 30.9 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 27.6 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 15.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 15.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 288 |
| 2023/24 | 288 |
| 2024/25 | 238 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Beccles High School compares
Beccles High School ranked 43rd of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 27.6 | 11.9% | 51.3% | 182 | — |
| Sir John Leman High School | 44.8 | 8.9% | 23.1% | 1,404 | 0.6 miles |
| Bungay High School | 41.7 | 10.1% | 23.7% | 922 | 5.5 miles |
| Pakefield High School | 38.4 | 9.6% | 39.9% | 679 | 6.4 miles |
| East Point Academy | 39.5 | 9.3% | 43% | 846 | 6.6 miles |
| Hobart High School | 46.1 | 9% | 22.8% | 673 | 6.9 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 51.26%
- English as an additional language
- 2.5%
- Overall absence
- 11.9%
- Persistent absence
- 34.47%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Sir John Leman High School0.6 miles
Secondary · Beccles
-
Bungay High School5.5 miles
Secondary · Bungay
-
Pakefield High School6.4 miles
Secondary · Lowestoft
-
East Point Academy6.6 miles
Secondary · Lowestoft
-
Hobart High School6.9 miles
Secondary · Norwich
Other schools in Beccles
- Sir John Leman High School Secondary
- Barnby and North Cove Community Primary School Primary
- Beccles Primary Academy Primary
- Brampton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Gillingham St Michael's Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- Glebeland Community Primary School Primary
- Ilketshall St Lawrence School Primary
- Ravensmere Infant School Primary
- Ringsfield Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Benet's Catholic Primary School Primary
- The Albert Pye Community Primary School Primary
- Worlingham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Beccles High School teach?
- Beccles High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Beccles.
- Who is the headteacher of Beccles High School?
- The headteacher of Beccles High School is Mr Christopher Barns, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Beccles High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Beccles 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 Beccles High School?
- Beccles High School has 182 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Beccles High School full?
- Beccles High School has capacity for 600 pupils and 182 on roll (30%), 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 Beccles High School a faith school?
- No. Beccles High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Beccles High School a selective school?
- No. Beccles High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Beccles High School part of an academy trust?
- Beccles High School is part of SAPIENTIA 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 Beccles High School have?
- The schools register lists Beccles High School's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Beccles High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 28.4 in 2022/23 and 27.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Beccles High School compare with other schools in Suffolk?
- Beccles High School ranked 43rd of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Beccles High School's absence rate?
- Beccles High School's overall absence rate is 11.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Beccles High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Beccles 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 1 July 2026.