Beckfoot Thornton
Leaventhorpe Lane, Thornton, Bradford, BD13 3BH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- BECKFOOT TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Richard Hanson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Beckfoot Trust
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Bradford West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,300
- Pupils on roll
- 1,243
- URN
- 143114
- Local authority
- Bradford
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01274881082
About this school
Beckfoot Thornton is a secondary academy in Bradford. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,243 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. 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 254 | 257 | 259 |
| Attainment 8 score | 39.4 | 37.3 | 40.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.22 -0.39 to -0.04 | -0.49 -0.67 to -0.32 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 31% | 28.4% | 35.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 52% | 46.7% | 54.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 9% | 29.2% | 52.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
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 Beckfoot Thornton has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Bradford average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 39.4 | 41.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.3 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.2 | 40 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 14.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,344 |
| 2023/24 | 1,290 |
| 2024/25 | 1,272 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Beckfoot Thornton compares
Beckfoot Thornton ranked 20th of 35 secondary schools in Bradford 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 2% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.2 | 14.1% | 40% | 1,243 | — |
| Bradford Girls' Grammar School | 44.8 | 10.3% | 46% | 667 | 1.3 miles |
| Dixons Kings Academy | 52.7 | 7.9% | 30.5% | 818 | 1.4 miles |
| Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Bradford | 49.1 | 6.5% | 30.3% | 598 | 1.7 miles |
| Beckfoot Upper Heaton | 37.3 | 13.7% | 45.2% | 679 | 1.9 miles |
| Belle Vue Girls' Academy | 43.2 | 8.6% | 38.4% | 910 | 2.0 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)
- 40.02%
- English as an additional language
- 9.1%
- Overall absence
- 14.11%
- Persistent absence
- 37.6%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bradford Girls' Grammar School1.3 miles
Secondary · Bradford
-
Dixons Kings Academy1.4 miles
Secondary · Bradford
-
Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Bradford1.7 miles
Secondary · Bradford
-
Beckfoot Upper Heaton1.9 miles
Secondary · Bradford
-
Belle Vue Girls' Academy2.0 miles
Secondary · Bradford
Other schools in Bradford
Beckfoot Thornton ranks 16th of the 28 ranked secondary schools in Bradford.
- Beckfoot Upper Heaton Secondary
- Belle Vue Girls' Academy Secondary
- Bradford Forster Academy Secondary
- Bradford Girls' Grammar School Secondary
- Bronte Girls' Academy Secondary
- Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy Secondary
- Carlton Bolling Secondary
- Co-op Academy Grange Secondary
- Dixons City Academy Secondary
- Dixons Kings Academy Secondary
- Dixons McMillan Academy Secondary
- Dixons Trinity Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Beckfoot Thornton teach?
- Beckfoot Thornton teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Bradford.
- Who is the headteacher of Beckfoot Thornton?
- The headteacher of Beckfoot Thornton is Mr Richard Hanson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Beckfoot Thornton last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Beckfoot Thornton, 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 Beckfoot Thornton?
- Beckfoot Thornton has 1,243 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Beckfoot Thornton full?
- Beckfoot Thornton has capacity for 1,300 pupils and 1,243 on roll (96%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Beckfoot Thornton a faith school?
- No. Beckfoot Thornton has no designated religious character.
- Is Beckfoot Thornton a selective school?
- No. Beckfoot Thornton is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Beckfoot Thornton?
- Beckfoot Thornton is part of BECKFOOT TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Beckfoot Thornton have?
- The schools register lists Beckfoot Thornton's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Beckfoot Thornton's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 39.4 in 2022/23 and 40.2 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Beckfoot Thornton rank locally?
- Beckfoot Thornton ranked 20th of 35 secondary schools in Bradford 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 2% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Beckfoot Thornton's absence rate?
- Beckfoot Thornton's overall absence rate is 14.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Beckfoot Thornton's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Beckfoot Thornton'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 2 July 2026.