UK Schools
Houstone School
Houstone School is a mixed secondary free school in Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire Council, teaching 765 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted graded quality of education as Good at its most recent inspection in May 2025. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 46.1 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 1 September 2025 to 17 July 2026.
Ofsted inspection
The latest published Ofsted judgement for Houstone School.
From September 2024 Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. These are the graded judgement areas from the latest inspection.
Scale: Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate
Term dates & holidays 2025–2026
Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for Houstone School.
- 1 First Day of Autumn Term
- 1–2 Staff Inset Days
- 3 Year 7 Start Date
- 8 Years 8-11 Start Date
- 27–31 Autumn Half Term
- 1–7 Autumn Half Term
- 19 Last Day of Autumn Term
- 22–31 Christmas Holiday
- 25 Christmas Day Bank Holiday
- 26 Boxing Day Bank Holiday
- 1–2 Christmas Holiday
- 1 New Year's Day Bank Holiday
- 5 Trust Inset Day
- 6 First Day of Spring Term
- 16–20 Spring Half Term
- 20 Staff Inset Day
- 27 Last Day of Spring Term
- 30–31 Easter Holiday
- 1–10 Easter Holiday
- 3 Good Friday
- 6 Easter Monday
- 13 First Day of Summer Term
- 4 Early May Bank Holiday
- 25–29 Summer Half Term
- 25 Spring Bank Holiday
- 17 Last Day of Summer Term
- 20 Staff Inset Day
- 20–31 Summer Holiday
- 1–31 Summer Holiday
- 31 Summer Bank Holiday
- 1–2 Staff Inset Days
- 3 Pupils Return
Key dates (2025–2026)
- First Day of Autumn Term Sep 1, 2025 Term
- Staff Inset Days Sep 1-2, 2025 Inset Day
- Year 7 Start Date Sep 3, 2025 Event
- Years 8-11 Start Date Sep 8, 2025 Event
- Autumn Half Term Oct 27 - Nov 7, 2025 Holiday
- Last Day of Autumn Term Dec 19, 2025 Term
- Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
- Trust Inset Day Jan 5, 2026 Inset Day
- First Day of Spring Term Jan 6, 2026 Term
- Spring Half Term Feb 16-20, 2026 Holiday
- Staff Inset Day Mar 20, 2026 Inset Day
- Last Day of Spring Term Mar 27, 2026 Term
- Easter Holiday Mar 30 - Apr 10, 2026 Holiday
- First Day of Summer Term Apr 13, 2026 Term
- Early May Bank Holiday May 4, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Half Term May 25-29, 2026 Holiday
- Last Day of Summer Term Jul 17, 2026 Term
- Staff Inset Day Jul 20, 2026 Inset Day
- Summer Holiday Jul 20 - Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
- Staff Inset Days Sep 1-2, 2026 Inset Day
- Pupils Return Sep 3, 2026 Event
- New Year's Day Bank Holiday Jan 1, 2026 Holiday
- Good Friday Apr 3, 2026 Event
- Easter Monday Apr 6, 2026 Holiday
- Spring Bank Holiday May 25, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Bank Holiday Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
- Christmas Day Bank Holiday Dec 25, 2025 Holiday
- Boxing Day Bank Holiday Dec 26, 2025 Holiday
Exam results & performance
The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare Houstone School with Central Bedfordshire Council and England.
Key stage 4 (GCSE) 46.1 Attainment 8 score
Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.
This school Central Bedfordshire Council England
Attendance 23% Persistently absent pupils
Absence across the whole school year.
This school Central Bedfordshire Council England
About this data source & caveats
Progress 8 is not published for 2024–2025. This year group missed their key stage 2 tests in 2020, so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Attendance comparisons are pupil-weighted averages we calculate from every school’s published absence figure — the DfE absence file has no local authority or England rows of its own.
We show the headline measures only. Threshold and curriculum-policy figures — grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc entry and points, the per-subject key stage 2 breakdown, academic and applied splits at 16 to 18 — reflect admissions and curriculum choices more than school quality, so they are left to GOV.UK. Progress measures matter most because they compare pupils with others who started at the same level; attainment on its own largely tracks a school’s intake.
Figures are the Department for Education’s official published results for Houstone School. Results are suppressed where too few pupils were entered. England figures are the average for state-funded schools. “Top x%” is this school’s position among all schools in England with a published figure for that measure — the DfE does not publish league table rankings.
Source: Compare school and college performance, Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Location & catchment area
Indicative only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to Houstone School than to any other secondary school. Real admissions depend on the school’s own policy (straight-line distance, siblings, faith, feeder schools and available places) and change each year. Always confirm with the school and local authority admissions team.