John Ruskin School is a mixed local-authority maintained secondary school in Coniston, Westmorland and Furness Council, teaching 247 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted rated it Good at its last graded inspection in October 2019. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 52.9 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 3 September 2025 to 17 July 2026.

Ofsted inspection

The latest published Ofsted judgement for John Ruskin School.

Latest inspection
Good Overall effectiveness
Quality of educationGood
Behaviour & attitudesGood
Personal developmentGood
Leadership & managementGood
S5 Inspection · Inspected 15 Oct 2019 · Published 21 Nov 2019
Read full Ofsted report ↗

Scale: Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate

Term dates & holidays 2025–2026

Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for John Ruskin School.

John Ruskin School term dates calendar 2025–2026
Official term-dates calendar · 2025–2026 · source

Interactive Calendar

September 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 Inset Day
  • 2 Inset Day
  • 3–30 Autumn Term 2025
October 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Autumn Term 2025
  • 27–31 Autumn Half Term Holiday
November 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1–30 Autumn Term 2025
December 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–19 Autumn Term 2025
  • 22–31 Christmas Holiday
  • 25 Christmas Day
  • 26 Boxing Day
January 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–2 Christmas Holiday
  • 1 New Year's Day
  • 6 Inset Day
  • 7–31 Spring Term 2026
February 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
  • 1–28 Spring Term 2026
  • 16–20 Spring Half Term Holiday
March 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–27 Spring Term 2026
  • 30–31 Easter Holiday
April 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1–10 Easter Holiday
  • 3 Good Friday
  • 6 Easter Monday
  • 13–30 Summer Term 2026
May 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Summer Term 2026
  • 4 Early May Bank Holiday
  • 25–29 Summer Half Term Holiday
  • 25 Spring Bank Holiday
June 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1–30 Summer Term 2026
July 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–17 Summer Term 2026
  • 20–31 Summer Holiday
August 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Summer Holiday
  • 31 Summer Bank Holiday
September 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 Summer Holiday

Key dates (2025–2026)

  • Autumn Term 2025 Sep 3, 2025 - Dec 19, 2025 Term
  • Autumn Half Term Holiday Oct 27, 2025 - Oct 31, 2025 Holiday
  • Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Term 2026 Jan 7, 2026 - Mar 27, 2026 Term
  • Spring Half Term Holiday Feb 16, 2026 - Feb 20, 2026 Holiday
  • Easter Holiday Mar 30, 2026 - Apr 10, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Term 2026 Apr 13, 2026 - Jul 17, 2026 Term
  • Summer Half Term Holiday May 25, 2026 - May 29, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Holiday Jul 20, 2026 - Sep 1, 2026 Holiday
  • Inset Day Sep 1, 2025 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Sep 2, 2025 Inset Day
  • Inset Day Jan 6, 2026 Inset Day
  • New Year's Day Jan 1, 2026 Event
  • Good Friday Apr 3, 2026 Event
  • Easter Monday Apr 6, 2026 Holiday
  • Early May Bank Holiday May 4, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Bank Holiday May 25, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Bank Holiday Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
  • Christmas Day Dec 25, 2025 Holiday
  • Boxing Day Dec 26, 2025 Event

Exam results & performance

DfE performance tables Official results, 2024–2025 GOV.UK ↗
52.9 Attainment 8 England 46.1 Top 17%
50% Grade 5+ English & maths England 45.4% Top 29%
12.7% Persistent absence England 17.8% Top 45%

The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare John Ruskin School with Westmorland and Furness Council and England.

Key stage 4 (GCSE) 52.9 Attainment 8 score

Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.

This school Westmorland and Furness Council England

Attainment 8 score · Average across 8 GCSEs, out of 90 52.9
Westmorland and Furness Council 45.4 England 46.1 +6.8 vs England
Grade 5+ in English & maths · A strong pass 50%
Westmorland and Furness Council 42.3% England 45.4% +4.6 vs England
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils 47.3
Westmorland and Furness Council 34.1 England 34.9 +12.4 vs England
Disadvantage gap · Attainment 8 points; smaller is better 6.4
Westmorland and Furness Council 13.6 England 15.5 -9.1 vs England
Disadvantaged pupils in the year group · Context for the scores above 12.5%
Westmorland and Furness Council 17% England 28.2%
Pupils in the year group · Small cohorts swing wildly 48
Attendance 12.7% Persistently absent pupils

Absence across the whole school year.

This school Westmorland and Furness Council England

Persistently absent pupils · Missed 10%+ of sessions; lower is better 12.7%
Westmorland and Furness Council 15.1% England 17.8% -5.1 vs England
Overall absence · Lower is better 5.7%
Westmorland and Furness Council 6.2% England 6.8% -1 vs England
What pupils do after GCSEs 98% In education, apprenticeship or work

Still in education, an apprenticeship or work a year after key stage 4.

This school Westmorland and Furness Council England

In education, apprenticeship or work 98%
Westmorland and Furness Council 95% England 92% +6 vs 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 John Ruskin 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 catchment Other secondary schools

Indicative only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to John Ruskin 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.