Lakelands Academy
Oswestry Road, Ellesmere, SY12 0EA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE 3-18 EDUCATION TRUST
- Acting Headteacher
- Mr Mark Hignett
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- The 3-18 Education Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- North Shropshire
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 580
- Pupils on roll
- 590
- URN
- 139102
- Local authority
- Shropshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01691622543
About this school
Lakelands Academy is a secondary academy in Ellesmere. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 590 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Lakelands Academy, 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
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- 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 | 97 | 106 | 106 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.6 | 38.3 | 43.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.36 -0.66 to -0.06 | -0.63 -0.91 to -0.34 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 29.2% | 34% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 45.3% | 61.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 51% | 39.6% | 41.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
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 Lakelands 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 | Shropshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 41.6 | 35.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 38.3 | 34.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.1 | 34 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 549 |
| 2023/24 | 576 |
| 2024/25 | 581 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Lakelands Academy compares
Lakelands Academy ranked 13th of 20 secondary schools in Shropshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 32% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.1 | 6.4% | 21.9% | 590 | — |
| The Marches School | 43.1 | 9% | 21.1% | 1,346 | 7.5 miles |
| The Thomas Adams School | 43.4 | 7.4% | 18.8% | 1,214 | 7.8 miles |
| The Corbet School | 47.2 | 8.7% | 16.4% | 691 | 7.9 miles |
| Sir John Talbot's School | 46.8 | 8% | 21.7% | 861 | 10.1 miles |
| Bishop Heber High School | 53.8 | 6.9% | 12.9% | 1,293 | 10.5 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 report9 June 2026
- 18 January 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 21.86%
- English as an additional language
- 5.2%
- Overall absence
- 6.44%
- Persistent absence
- 20.37%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Marches School7.5 miles
Secondary · Oswestry
-
The Thomas Adams School7.8 miles
Secondary · Shrewsbury
-
The Corbet School7.9 miles
Secondary · Shrewsbury
-
Sir John Talbot's School10.1 miles
Secondary · Whitchurch
-
Bishop Heber High School10.5 miles
Secondary · Malpas
Other schools in Ellesmere
- Cockshutt CofE Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Criftins CofE Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Ellesmere Primary School Primary
- Welshampton CofE Primary School Primary
- Ellesmere College Independent schools
Common questions
- What ages does Lakelands Academy teach?
- Lakelands Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Ellesmere.
- Who is the acting headteacher of Lakelands Academy?
- The acting headteacher of Lakelands Academy is Mr Mark Hignett, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Lakelands Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Lakelands 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 many pupils are at Lakelands Academy?
- Lakelands Academy has 590 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Lakelands Academy full?
- Lakelands Academy has capacity for 580 pupils and 590 on roll (102%), 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 Lakelands Academy a faith school?
- No. Lakelands Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Lakelands Academy a selective school?
- No. Lakelands Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Lakelands Academy part of an academy trust?
- Lakelands Academy is part of THE 3-18 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 Lakelands Academy have?
- The schools register lists Lakelands Academy's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Lakelands Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 41.6 in 2022/23 and 43.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Lakelands Academy compare with other schools in Shropshire?
- Lakelands Academy ranked 13th of 20 secondary schools in Shropshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 32% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Lakelands Academy's absence rate?
- Lakelands Academy's overall absence rate is 6.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Lakelands Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Lakelands 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 15 July 2026.