Queen Elizabeth Studio School, Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale

Ofsted's report card from its 2 June 2026 inspection grades Queen Elizabeth Studio School on 7 areas: 1 strong standard and 6 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "Students in the sixth form benefit from a carefully designed programme of study that meets their needs and supports their aspirations."

Achievement - Expected standard. "Pupils achieve appropriately from their starting points."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders analyse attendance information carefully and use this to guide their work."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have planned a broad curriculum that combines academic study with specialist and vocational pathways."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders identify pupils' needs carefully and ensure that these are well understood by staff."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders have taken effective action to strengthen the school's provision."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders provide a broad and carefully structured personal development programme that supports pupils' wider development and preparation for life beyond school."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that consistent, high-quality formative assessment and feedback are embedded across subjects so that pupils can improve their work and build securely on prior learning"; "Leaders should continue to implement, monitor and refine their strategies for improving the persistent absence of a small group of pupils so that actions lead to sustained improvement".

In 2026, pupils at Queen Elizabeth Studio School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 44.8 in Westmorland and Furness and 47 across England.

36% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 41% in Westmorland and Furness and 47% in England.

That is up from 37.8 in 2025.

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 38.9, against 40.2 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 1.3 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 25 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Business Studies and Geography.

Across Westmorland and Furness, 96% of families were offered their first-choice secondary school for 2026 entry, and 100% were offered one of the schools they named.

In 2026, families in Westmorland and Furness lodged 38 appeals against secondary school offers; 33 reached a hearing and 17 succeeded (51.5% of those heard).

Queen Elizabeth Studio School is one of 2 schools run by Lunesdale Learning Trust, an academy trust.

15 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Queen Elizabeth Studio School (as of April 2026): 93% would recommend the school, 80% say their child is happy there and 50% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (93%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (50%).

Of the 140 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 76% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 48% to a further education college, 16% to an apprenticeship and 4% into work.

Of the 39 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 31% went on to university or other higher education, 10% to apprenticeships and 54% into work. 11% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

8.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 0.6% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 81 pupils (24.6%) received SEN support and 13 (4%) 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 specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia.

Queen Elizabeth Studio School had 103 teachers in 2026, one for every 3 pupils: more teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Queen Elizabeth Studio School.

4 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Queen Elizabeth School (outside), 150 metres away.

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

In August 2026, police recorded 6 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and other theft. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Westmorland and Furness (11).

In 2024/25, Queen Elizabeth Studio School issued 39 suspensions, 11.7 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.