Beckfoot Thornton

Academy sponsor led·Secondary school Bradford·BD13 3BH
Composite score
50.3
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#2,498
National rank
#235
In Yorkshire and The Humber
#20
In Bradford
Top 78%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
40.2
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
35%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
54%
% EBacc grade 5+
14%
EBacc average points score
3.76

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
163 first choices, 239 places
First choices per place
0.68
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
509
any preference, for 239 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.17
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9420220.8020230.8820240.8520250.682026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Beckfoot Thornton first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–16
Pupils on roll
1,272
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
40.0%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
9.1%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
18.7%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.4%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
11.7%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
34.5%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
17.6
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,779
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
86%
254 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
83%
Apprenticeship
2%
Employment
1%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

About Beckfoot Thornton

Beckfoot Thornton is a secondary school in Bradford, classified by the DfE as a sponsor-led academy. Around 1,272 pupils aged 11 to 16 attend the school. The school holds a 'Good' judgement from Ofsted. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 40.2, below the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 2.9 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

35% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 54% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Beckfoot Thornton was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 163 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 86% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 11.7%. There are about 17.6 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 40% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. When you visit, you might ask how the school stretches its higher-attaining pupils and supports those who need to catch up. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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