Walney School
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
- Mrs Allison Redshaw
- 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 School is a secondary academy in Barrow-in-Furness. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 468 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Walney 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
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 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 | 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 School compares
Walney School 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
Common questions
- What ages does Walney School teach?
- Walney School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Barrow-in-Furness.
- Who is the headteacher of Walney School?
- The headteacher of Walney School is Mrs Allison Redshaw, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Walney School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Walney 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 Walney School?
- Walney School has 468 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Walney School full?
- Walney School 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 School a faith school?
- No. Walney School has no designated religious character.
- Is Walney School a selective school?
- No. Walney School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Walney School part of an academy trust?
- Walney School 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 School'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 School compare with other schools in Westmorland and Furness?
- Walney School 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 School's absence rate?
- Walney School's overall absence rate is 9.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Walney School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Walney 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.