Lightcliffe Academy, Halifax

From the headteacher's welcome: "Welcome to Lightcliffe Academy. We are pleased to have our new students joining us and look forward to meeting new and prospective parents and pupils at our academy Open Evening in September."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, rugby, dance, drama, art, debating, Duke of Edinburgh and homework club.

On phones, the school says: "We allow mobile phones to be brought to school, but if you bring one, it must be switched off and kept in an allocated lockable phone pouch all day."

In 2026, pupils at Lightcliffe Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 37.3, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 49 in Calderdale and 47 across England.

25% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 51% in Calderdale and 47% in England.

That is down from 38.5 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.37: 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 27.6, against 41.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 13.5 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, 98 families put Lightcliffe Academy as their first choice and 379 named it as one of their preferences, for 125 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Lightcliffe Academy are Brighouse High School (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.4); Appleton Academy (1.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 36); Rastrick High School (1.8 miles, Good, Attainment 8 50.9); and Whitcliffe Mount, A Share Academy (2.5 miles, Attainment 8 45.7).

Lightcliffe Academy's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

Lightcliffe Academy is one of 8 schools run by Abbey Multi Academy Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 45.1 in 2024/25.

79 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Lightcliffe Academy (as of September 2025): 66% would recommend the school, 72% say their child is happy there and 50% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (76%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (50%).

Of the 203 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 79% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 52% to a further education college, 9% to an apprenticeship and 3% into work.

35.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 4.9% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (85%) and Mixed (5%).

The nearest railway station is Brighouse Rail Station, about 1.7 miles away in a straight line.

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Lightcliffe Academy, 50 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Lightcliffe Academy stands in is among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Lightcliffe Academy issued 281 suspensions, 34.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The primary schools closest to Lightcliffe Academy are Cliffe Hill Community Primary School (0.1 miles); Lightcliffe C of E Primary School (0.5 miles); Bailiffe Bridge Junior and Infant School (0.5 miles); and St Joseph's Catholic Primary Academy, Brighouse (0.6 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.