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.

Latest inspection
Graded inspection No single overall grade (Sept 2024+)

From September 2024 Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. These are the graded judgement areas from the latest inspection.

Quality of educationRequires improvement
Behaviour & attitudesRequires improvement
Personal developmentRequires improvement
Leadership & managementRequires improvement
Requires Improvement S5 Reinspection Visit 2 · Inspected 7 May 2025 · Published 14 Jul 2025
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 Walney School.

Walney 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 1 (Staff Only)
  • 2 Inset Day 2 (Staff Only)
  • 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 2025
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
  • 20–31 Christmas Holiday
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
  • 1–6 Christmas Holiday
  • 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 2026
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
  • 28–31 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
  • 1–12 Easter Holiday
  • 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
  • 25–29 Summer Half Term Holiday 2026
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
  • 18–31 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
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)

  • 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

DfE performance tables Official results, 2024–2025 GOV.UK ↗
38.7 Attainment 8 England 46.1
21.9% Grade 5+ English & maths England 45.4%
26.4% Persistent absence England 17.8%

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

Attainment 8 score · Average across 8 GCSEs, out of 90 38.7
Westmorland and Furness Council 45.4 England 46.1 -7.4 vs England
Grade 5+ in English & maths · A strong pass 21.9%
Westmorland and Furness Council 42.3% England 45.4% -23.5 vs England
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils 27.4
Westmorland and Furness Council 34.1 England 34.9 -7.5 vs England
Disadvantage gap · Attainment 8 points; smaller is better 14.3
Westmorland and Furness Council 13.6 England 15.5 -1.2 vs England
Disadvantaged pupils in the year group · Context for the scores above 21.1%
Westmorland and Furness Council 17% England 28.2%
Pupils in the year group · Small cohorts swing wildly 114
Attendance 26.4% 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 26.4%
Westmorland and Furness Council 15.1% England 17.8% +8.7 vs England
Overall absence · Lower is better 9.3%
Westmorland and Furness Council 6.2% England 6.8% +2.6 vs 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

In education, apprenticeship or work 93%
Westmorland and Furness Council 95% England 92% +1 vs England
Same, for disadvantaged pupils 86%
Westmorland and Furness Council 85% England 83% +3 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 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 catchment Other secondary schools

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.