Walney Academy
Sandy Gap Lane, Walney, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 3JT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- FURNESS EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Jennifer Wildman
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Furness Education Trust
- Constituency
- Barrow and Furness
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 468
- URN
- 141041
- Local authority
- Westmorland and Furness
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01229471528
About this school
Walney Academy is a secondary academy in Barrow-in-Furness. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 468 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
- 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 | 99 | 61 | 114 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.6 | 34.4 | 38.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.84 -1.13 to -0.56 | -1.20 -1.55 to -0.84 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 33% | 24.6% | 21.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 41% | 41.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 7% | 16.4% | 7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
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 Walney 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 | Westmorland and Furness average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.6 | 37.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 34.4 | 40 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.7 | 41.9 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 479 |
| 2023/24 | 489 |
| 2024/25 | 518 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Walney Academy compares
Walney Academy ranked 17th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38.7 | 9.3% | 25.9% | 468 | — |
| Furness Academy | 42.4 | 9.3% | 29.9% | 1,187 | 2.1 miles |
| St Bernards Catholic High School, Barrow | 34.6 | 9.8% | 29.1% | 624 | 2.9 miles |
| Dowdales School | 41.8 | 9.5% | 21.2% | 877 | 4.8 miles |
| Millom School | 44.9 | 8.2% | 22.7% | 476 | 7.5 miles |
| Ulverston Victoria High School | 46.8 | 9.4% | 14.3% | 1,319 | 8.8 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 25.87%
- English as an additional language
- 2.7%
- Overall absence
- 9.3%
- Persistent absence
- 26.44%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Furness Academy2.1 miles
Secondary · Barrow-in-Furness
-
St Bernards Catholic High School, Barrow2.9 miles
Secondary · Barrow-in-Furness
-
Dowdales School4.8 miles
Secondary · Dalton-in-Furness
-
Millom School7.5 miles
Secondary · Millom
-
Ulverston Victoria High School8.8 miles
Secondary · Ulverston
Other schools in Barrow-in-Furness
- Furness Academy Secondary
- St Bernards Catholic High School, Barrow Secondary
- Hindpool Nursery School Nursery
- Barrow Island Community Primary School Primary
- Brisbane Park Infant School Primary
- Cambridge Primary School Primary
- Greengate Junior School Primary
- Holy Family Catholic Primary School Primary
- Newbarns Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Newton Village Academy Primary
- Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School Primary
- Parkside Academy Primary
Recorded changes at this school
Previous headteacher: Mrs Allison Redshaw (until September 2026).
- Headteacher changed from Mrs Allison Redshaw to Ms Jennifer Wildman recorded 3 Sep 2026
- School name changed from Walney School to Walney Academy recorded 3 Sep 2026
Common questions
- What year groups does Walney Academy teach?
- Walney Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Barrow-in-Furness.
- Who is the headteacher of Walney Academy?
- The headteacher of Walney Academy is Ms Jennifer Wildman, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Walney Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Walney 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 Walney Academy?
- Walney Academy has 468 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Walney Academy full?
- Walney Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 468 on roll (52%), 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 Walney Academy a faith school?
- No. Walney Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Walney Academy a selective school?
- No. Walney Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Walney Academy?
- Walney Academy is part of FURNESS EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Walney Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.6 in 2022/23 and 38.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Walney Academy rank locally?
- Walney Academy ranked 17th of 20 secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Walney Academy's absence rate?
- Walney Academy's overall absence rate is 9.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Walney Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Walney 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 3 September 2026.