Boroughbridge High School, York

Ofsted's report card from its 30 June 2026 inspection grades Boroughbridge High School on 6 areas: 6 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Expected standard. "Staff use effective strategies to close any gaps in pupils' basic knowledge and skills."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Over time, attendance has improved, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "The curriculum is effectively designed to enable pupils to build on their knowledge and remember learning over time."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Boroughbridge High School is a welcoming and accepting school."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders and governors know their school well and identify the right priorities to ensure that pupils receive a high-quality education and care from adults."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "There is a comprehensive personal development programme in place that ensures pupils are fully prepared for their next steps and the wider world."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that the strategies they use to improve attendance impact on a wider range of pupils so that attendance increases overall"; "Leaders should continue to ensure that they embed all elements of the teaching strategy, including adaptive teaching, so that staff teach the curriculum consistently well and pupils can access learning in all subjects successfully"; "Leaders should ensure that disadvantaged pupils continue to receive the support that they need to bring their attainment more in line with their national counterparts"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils develop a more detailed and secure knowledge of the personal, social, health and economic education curriculum".

In its own words: "We are an 11-16 community comprehensive school which serves Boroughbridge and the surrounding area. With just under 400 students we are a relatively small school which gives us a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere. We feel like a family and, as such, we know our students well making Boroughbridge High School a good place to work and learn."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, netball, rugby, hockey, cricket, basketball, drama and Duke of Edinburgh.

In 2026, pupils at Boroughbridge High School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 42.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 47.2 in North Yorkshire and 47 across England.

38% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 48% in North Yorkshire and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 43.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.48: pupils made below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 31.7, against 46.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 15.2 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Geography and Business Studies.

For September 2026 entry, 43 families put Boroughbridge High School as their first choice and 116 named it as one of their preferences, for 48 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

Of the 89 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 75% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 46% to a further education college, 7% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

8.2% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 101 pupils (26%) received SEN support and 24 (6.2%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is a moderate learning difficulty.

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Boroughbridge High School.

6 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Boroughbridge High School (adjacent), 40 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 25 crimes within a mile of the school, most often anti-social behaviour, violence and sexual offences and criminal damage and arson. That is well above the typical figure around schools in North Yorkshire (9), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Boroughbridge High School issued 160 suspensions, 36.5 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Boroughbridge High School are Boroughbridge Primary School (0.4 miles), Roecliffe CofE Primary School (1.2 miles) and Kirby Hill Church of England (VC) Primary School (1.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.