Lancaster High School
Crag Road, Lancaster, LA1 3LS
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE BAY LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Colin Malone
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- The Bay Learning Trust
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 750
- Pupils on roll
- 567
- URN
- 147260
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0152432636
About this school
Lancaster High School is a secondary academy in Lancaster. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 567 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 | 102 | 130 | 95 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.2 | 33.5 | 35.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.16 -0.45 to +0.13 | -0.61 -0.87 to -0.36 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 25% | 23.1% | 25.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 45% | 41.5% | 46.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 5% | 13.8% | 11.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.0 |
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 Lancaster High 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 | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 37.2 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 33.5 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 35.6 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 14.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 588 |
| 2023/24 | 595 |
| 2024/25 | 591 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Lancaster High School compares
Lancaster High School ranked 77th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 28% 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 | 35.6 | 14.2% | 46.5% | 567 | — |
| Lancaster Royal Grammar School | 74.1 | 6.1% | 8.1% | 1,294 | 0.6 miles |
| Our Lady's Catholic College | 41.3 | 11.6% | 40.6% | 981 | 0.8 miles |
| Lancaster Girls' Grammar School | 73.4 | 5.4% | 6.6% | 1,038 | 1.0 miles |
| Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy | 50.7 | 7.4% | 10.8% | 1,755 | 1.3 miles |
| Morecambe Bay Academy | 36.8 | 12.6% | 40.6% | 1,045 | 3.1 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)
- 46.53%
- English as an additional language
- 16.4%
- Overall absence
- 14.16%
- Persistent absence
- 42.14%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Lancaster Royal Grammar School0.6 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Our Lady's Catholic College0.8 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Lancaster Girls' Grammar School1.0 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Lancaster
-
Morecambe Bay Academy3.1 miles
Secondary · Morecambe
Other schools in Lancaster
Lancaster High School ranks 5th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Lancaster.
- Lancaster Girls' Grammar School Secondary
- Lancaster Royal Grammar School Secondary
- Our Lady's Catholic College Secondary
- Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy Secondary
- Appletree Nursery School Nursery
- Austwick Church of England VA Primary School Primary
- Bentham Community Primary School Primary
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School Primary
- Castle View Primary Academy Primary
- Caton Primary School Primary
- Caton St Paul's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cawthorne's Endowed School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Lancaster High School teach?
- Lancaster High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Lancaster.
- Who is the headteacher of Lancaster High School?
- The headteacher of Lancaster High School is Mr Colin Malone, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Lancaster High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Lancaster High 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 big is Lancaster High School?
- Lancaster High School has 567 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Lancaster High School full?
- Lancaster High School has capacity for 750 pupils and 567 on roll (76%), 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 Lancaster High School a faith school?
- No. Lancaster High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Lancaster High School a selective school?
- No. Lancaster High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Lancaster High School?
- Lancaster High School is part of THE BAY LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Lancaster High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37.2 in 2022/23 and 35.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Lancaster High School rank locally?
- Lancaster High School ranked 77th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 28% 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 Lancaster High School's absence rate?
- Lancaster High School's overall absence rate is 14.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Lancaster High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Lancaster High 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 10 July 2026.