Beacon Hill Community School

Beacon Hill Community School is a small, welcoming secondary school where pupils feel safe and enjoy attending. Behaviour and personal development are strong: pupils are calm, respectful and engaged, staff build positive relationships, and pupils benefit from bespoke pastoral support, outdoor activities, trips, leadership roles and high-quality careers guidance. Safeguarding is effective, and staff are proud to work at the school, with leaders considerate of workload and wellbeing. The main areas for improvement lie in the quality of education and leadership and management. In some key stage 3 subjects, pupils do not study the full national curriculum, so their education is not as broad and balanced as it should be. Curriculum delivery is inconsistent: in some subjects teaching and assessment are effective, but in others activities do not help pupils retain knowledge, checks on understanding are weaker, and pupils with SEND do not consistently get the adaptations they need. Reading is also uneven; support for weaker readers is helping, but reading for pleasure and subject vocabulary are not fully embedded. This was the school's first routine inspection since the pandemic and it remains part of the Cumbria Futures Federation. Leaders have reviewed the curriculum and raised behaviour expectations, but the report says these improvements are not yet realised consistently enough to secure good achievement for all pupils.

Strengths

• Provides a safe, welcoming and calm environment
• Pupils behave well and have positive, respectful relationships with staff
• Effective bespoke pastoral support for pupils with challenging behaviour
• Strong personal development programme supporting social, emotional and mental health
• High-quality careers advice and guidance, including apprenticeships and work experience
• Wide range of extracurricular, outdoor and leadership opportunities
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective
• Curriculum has been reviewed and subject curriculums are well designed
• Staff feel proud to work at the school and their wellbeing and workload are considered
• Attendance improves over pupils’ time at the school

Areas for Improvement

• Some key stage 3 subjects do not teach the full national curriculum, limiting breadth and balance
• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent across subjects
• Some activities do not help pupils understand and retain key knowledge
• Assessment checks are inconsistent; pupils move on before misconceptions are addressed
• Support for pupils with SEND is not consistently adapted across the school
• Reading curriculum is not fully developed or implemented consistently
• Pupils lack consistent opportunities to read for pleasure and develop subject-specific vocabulary
• Some pupils do not achieve as well as they should because high expectations are not fully realised

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Beacon Hill Community School attended 90.4% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.0% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 7.3% of pupils at Beacon Hill Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Beacon Hill Community School had 12.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 25.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 31.9% of pupils at Beacon Hill Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Beacon Hill Community School received £12,057 and spent £13,142 for each of its 135 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £461,000 (-£3,417 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Wigton · Cumberland local authority: places and applications

What is Beacon Hill Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Beacon Hill Community School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Beacon Hill Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Beacon Hill Community School was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Beacon Hill Community School have?

Beacon Hill Community School has 135 pupils on roll.

What age range does Beacon Hill Community School cover?

Beacon Hill Community School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Beacon Hill Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.5, and 33% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Beacon Hill Community School?

Beacon Hill Community School is at Market Square, Aspatria, Wigton, Cumbria, CA7 3EZ.