The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy
Spring Gardens Lane, Keighley, BD20 6LH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- BLESSED CHRISTOPHER WHARTON CATHOLIC ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms S Mather
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Diocese of Leeds (rc)
- Sponsor
- Blessed Christopher Wharton Catholic Academy Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Keighley and Ilkley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 992
- Pupils on roll
- 630
- URN
- 149299
- Local authority
- Bradford
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01535210212
About this school
The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary academy in Keighley. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 630 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy, 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
- Sixth form
- 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 | 140 | 154 | 141 |
| Attainment 8 score | 32.2 | 34.0 | 28.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.82 -1.06 to -0.58 | -0.59 -0.81 to -0.36 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 15% | 22.7% | 11.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 33% | 40.9% | 31.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 14% | 17.5% | 14.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.6 | 2.9 | 2.3 |
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 The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary 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 | Bradford average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 32.2 | 41.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 34 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 28.8 | 40 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 12.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 862 |
| 2023/24 | 773 |
| 2024/25 | 700 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy compares
The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy ranked 34th of 35 secondary schools in Bradford for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 28.8 | 12.5% | 41.7% | 630 | — |
| Carlton Keighley | 38.6 | 8.2% | 32.8% | 809 | 0.3 miles |
| Beckfoot Oakbank | 35.3 | 14.5% | 38.1% | 1,394 | 1.5 miles |
| Bingley Grammar School | 46.5 | 9.6% | 25.6% | 1,985 | 3.2 miles |
| South Craven School | 47.5 | 8.1% | 16.8% | 1,936 | 3.3 miles |
| Parkside School | 36.7 | 12.3% | 24.6% | 1,061 | 3.5 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 41.7%
- English as an additional language
- 40.4%
- Overall absence
- 12.54%
- Persistent absence
- 38.74%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Carlton Keighley0.3 miles
Secondary · Keighley
-
Beckfoot Oakbank1.5 miles
Secondary · Keighley
-
Bingley Grammar School3.2 miles
Secondary · Bingley
-
South Craven School3.3 miles
Secondary · Keighley
-
Parkside School3.5 miles
Secondary · Bradford
Other schools in Keighley
- Beckfoot Oakbank Secondary
- Carlton Keighley Secondary
- South Craven School Secondary
- Strong Close Nursery School Nursery
- Beckfoot Nessfield Primary
- Bradleys Both Community Primary School Primary
- Cononley Primary School Primary
- Cowling Community Primary School Primary
- East Morton CofE Primary School Primary
- Eastburn Primary School Primary
- Eastwood Community School Primary
- Glusburn Community Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy teach?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Keighley.
- Who is the headteacher of The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy?
- The headteacher of The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy is Ms S Mather, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary 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 The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy has 630 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy full?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy has capacity for 992 pupils and 630 on roll (64%), 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 The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy a faith school?
- Yes. The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Leeds (rc).
- Is The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy a selective school?
- No. The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy part of an academy trust?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy is part of BLESSED CHRISTOPHER WHARTON CATHOLIC ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy have?
- The schools register lists The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary 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 The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 32.2 in 2022/23 and 28.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy compare with other schools in Bradford?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy ranked 34th of 35 secondary schools in Bradford for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 21% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy's absence rate?
- The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy's overall absence rate is 12.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary 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 10 July 2026.