Walney School
Walney School is a mixed secondary academy in Barrow-in-Furness, Westmorland and Furness Council, teaching 468 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted graded quality of education as Requires improvement at its most recent inspection in May 2025. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 38.7 (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 Walney 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 Walney School.
- 1 Inset Day 1 (Staff Only)
- 2 Inset Day 2 (Staff Only)
- 3–30 Autumn Term 2025
- 1–31 Autumn Term 2025
- 27–31 Autumn Half Term Holiday 2025
- 1–30 Autumn Term 2025
- 1–19 Autumn Term 2025
- 20–31 Christmas Holiday
- 1–6 Christmas Holiday
- 7–31 Spring Term 2026
- 1–28 Spring Term 2026
- 16–20 Spring Half Term Holiday 2026
- 1–27 Spring Term 2026
- 28–31 Easter Holiday
- 1–12 Easter Holiday
- 13–30 Summer Term 2026
- 1–31 Summer Term 2026
- 25–29 Summer Half Term Holiday 2026
- 1–30 Summer Term 2026
- 1–17 Summer Term 2026
- 18–31 Summer Holiday
- 1–31 Summer Holiday
- 1 Summer Holiday
Key dates (2025–2026)
- Inset Day 1 (Staff Only) September 1, 2025 Inset Day
- Inset Day 2 (Staff Only) September 2, 2025 Inset Day
- Autumn Term 2025 September 3, 2025 - December 19, 2025 Term
- Autumn Half Term Holiday 2025 October 27, 2025 - October 31, 2025 Holiday
- Christmas Holiday December 20, 2025 - January 6, 2026 Holiday
- Spring Term 2026 January 7, 2026 - March 27, 2026 Term
- Spring Half Term Holiday 2026 February 16, 2026 - February 20, 2026 Holiday
- Easter Holiday March 28, 2026 - April 12, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Term 2026 April 13, 2026 - July 17, 2026 Term
- Summer Half Term Holiday 2026 May 25, 2026 - May 29, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Holiday July 18, 2026 - September 1, 2026 Holiday
Exam results & performance
The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare Walney School with Westmorland and Furness Council and England.
Key stage 4 (GCSE) 38.7 Attainment 8 score
Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.
This school Westmorland and Furness Council England
Attendance 26.4% Persistently absent pupils
Absence across the whole school year.
This school Westmorland and Furness Council England
What pupils do after GCSEs 93% 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
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 Walney 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 Walney 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.