St Aidan's Church of England High School, Harrogate

Ofsted's report card from its 28 April 2026 inspection grades St Aidan's Church of England High School on 7 areas: 3 strong standard and 4 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "Pupils and post-16 students achieve well."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Leaders prioritise attendance."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "'The St Aidan's Offer' for personal development includes a carefully designed and comprehensive curriculum for personal, social and health education and relationships, sex and health education."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that pupils follow an ambitious curriculum that is carefully designed."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have clear systems to help them identify pupils, who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Since the last inspection, there have been significant changes to leadership at the school."

Post-16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders' longstanding 'associated sixth form' benefits students."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that assessment is used more effectively to identify gaps in learning, make appropriate adaptations and to inform teaching across the curriculum"; "Leaders should embed their monitoring of the post-16 provision to ensure that swift action is taken to ensure students' experiences of the curriculum and teaching are routinely positive and result in consistently high achievement"; "Leaders, including governors and trustees, should strengthen their oversight of the pupil premium strategy so that it is monitored effectively and implemented consistently, including through ongoing, high-quality training for staff so that they routinely support disadvantaged pupils to overcome the barriers they face".

From the headteacher's welcome: "Welcome to St. Aidan's The school was founded in 1968 as a small secondary school with just over 600 students - today it is a thriving community of over 2000 students aged 11-19, regularly being ranked among the top comprehensive schools in the country."

Coming up: an open day on Wednesday 16 June 2027 and an open day on Friday 25 June 2027. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at St Aidan's Church of England High School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 59.4, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 47.2 in North Yorkshire and 47 across England.

74% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 48% in North Yorkshire and 47% in England.

That is up from 56.4 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.72: pupils made well above 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 46.9, against 60.4 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 13.5 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 25 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Biology and Chemistry.

For September 2026 entry, 339 families put St Aidan's Church of England High School as their first choice and 930 named it as one of their preferences, for 248 places offered. That is 1.4 first choices for every place. 104 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to St Aidan's Church of England High School are St Aidans and St John Fisher Associated Sixth Form (0.2 miles); St John Fisher Catholic Academy (0.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 52.6); Harrogate High School (0.8 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 39.5); and Harrogate Grammar School (0.9 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 56).

St Aidan's Church of England High School's 2026 results were higher than all 3 of them.

St Aidan's Church of England High School is one of 12 schools run by Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust, an academy trust.

Of the 253 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 96% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 15% to a further education college, 0% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 531 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 55% went on to university or other higher education, 4% to apprenticeships and 27% into work. 27% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

6.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 6.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 174 pupils (8.9%) received SEN support and 65 (3.3%) 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 autism.

The nearest railway station is Hornbeam Park Rail Station, about 770 metres away (roughly a 10-minute walk).

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is St Aidan's Sch Grounds Dep (nw-bound), 50 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood St Aidan's Church of England High School stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 281 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in North Yorkshire (9), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, St Aidan's Church of England High School issued 42 suspensions, 2.1 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to St Aidan's Church of England High School are St Peter's Church of England Primary School (0.6 miles), Oatlands Infant School (0.6 miles), Willow Tree Community Primary School (0.6 miles) and Oatlands Community Junior School (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.