Queensbury Academy
Langdale Road, Dunstable, LU6 3BU
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ANTHEM SCHOOLS TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Helen Palmer
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Anthem Schools Trust
- Constituency
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,350
- Pupils on roll
- 1,093
- URN
- 138571
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01582601241
About this school
Queensbury Academy is a secondary academy in Dunstable. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,093 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
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 207 | 205 | 206 |
| Attainment 8 score | 44.0 | 39.9 | 40.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.28 -0.48 to -0.08 | -0.56 -0.76 to -0.37 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 38% | 35.1% | 33.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 63% | 62.4% | 56.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 22% | 24.4% | 28.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.6 | 3.4 | 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 Queensbury 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 | Central Bedfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 44 | 41.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.9 | 38.9 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40 | 42.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,238 |
| 2023/24 | 1,195 |
| 2024/25 | 1,154 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Queensbury Academy compares
Queensbury Academy ranked 12th of 14 secondary schools in Central Bedfordshire 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 | 8.7% | 14.6% | 1,093 | — |
| All Saints Academy Dunstable | 36.9 | 8.6% | 34.7% | 520 | 1.2 miles |
| Manshead Church of England Academy | 43 | 10.5% | 19.9% | 1,134 | 1.4 miles |
| The Chalk Hills Academy | 45.7 | 8.7% | 35.1% | 1,644 | 2.1 miles |
| Houstone School | 46.1 | 7.4% | 29.4% | 765 | 2.7 miles |
| Challney High School for Boys | 47.7 | 7% | 28.4% | 1,197 | 2.8 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)
- 14.57%
- English as an additional language
- 21%
- Overall absence
- 8.69%
- Persistent absence
- 23.73%
Location
Nearby schools
-
All Saints Academy Dunstable1.2 miles
Secondary · Dunstable
-
Manshead Church of England Academy1.4 miles
Secondary · Luton
-
The Chalk Hills Academy2.1 miles
Secondary · Luton
-
Houstone School2.7 miles
Secondary · Dunstable
-
Challney High School for Boys2.8 miles
Secondary · Luton
Other schools in Dunstable
Queensbury Academy ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Dunstable.
- All Saints Academy Dunstable Secondary
- Harlington Upper School Secondary
- Houstone School Secondary
- Westfield Nursery School Nursery
- Willow Nursery School Nursery
- Ardley Hill Academy Primary
- Ashton St Peter's VA C of E School Primary
- Beecroft Academy Primary
- Dunstable Icknield Lower School Primary
- Eaton Bray Academy Primary
- Edlesborough Primary Academy Primary
- Hadrian Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Queensbury Academy teach?
- Queensbury Academy teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Dunstable.
- Who is the headteacher of Queensbury Academy?
- The headteacher of Queensbury Academy is Ms Helen Palmer, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Queensbury Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Queensbury 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 Queensbury Academy?
- Queensbury Academy has 1,093 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Queensbury Academy full?
- Queensbury Academy has capacity for 1,350 pupils and 1,093 on roll (81%), 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 Queensbury Academy a faith school?
- No. Queensbury Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Queensbury Academy a selective school?
- No. Queensbury Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Queensbury Academy?
- Queensbury Academy is part of ANTHEM SCHOOLS TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Queensbury Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 44 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 Queensbury Academy rank locally?
- Queensbury Academy ranked 12th of 14 secondary schools in Central Bedfordshire 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 Queensbury Academy's absence rate?
- Queensbury Academy's overall absence rate is 8.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Queensbury Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Queensbury 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.