Furness Academy

Furness Academy demonstrates a strong overall performance with a 'Good' rating in multiple domains, including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The school has made significant progress in raising expectations and standards for all pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). With a calm and purposeful atmosphere and effective behaviour management systems, pupils feel safe, happy, and are achieving well across subjects. The curriculum is ambitious and has successfully adapted to meet local employment needs, particularly in technology and engineering fields.

Strengths

• Leaders have high expectations for pupil behaviour and achievement.
• The curriculum is ambitious and offers a wide range of courses.
• Pupils behave well and are eager to engage in their learning.
• There are effective systems in place for managing bullying.
• Strong relationships between staff and pupils contribute to a positive school culture.
• A well-designed careers programme provides valuable guidance for pupils.
• Training for staff ensures they are equipped to support pupils with SEND.

Areas for Improvement

• In a small number of subjects, assessment strategies are not consistently effective.

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 Furness Academy attended 90.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.7% 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, 6.7% of pupils at Furness Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 9 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 Furness Academy had 17.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.2% 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, 11.0% of pupils at Furness Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.3% 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 2024–25 Furness Academy received £9,190 and spent £8,801 for each of its 1,188 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,204,000 (£1,013 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Furness Education Trust, income was £7,887 and spending £7,648 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Barrow-In-Furness · Westmorland and Furness local authority: places and applications

Furness Academy is part of Furness Education Trust, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Parkside Academy Barrow-In-Furness
• Victoria Academy Barrow-In-Furness
• Yarlside Academy Barrow-In-Furness
• Newton Village Academy Barrow-In-Furness
• Walney Academy Barrow-In-Furness
• Lindal and Marton Primary School Ulverston

What is Furness Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Furness Academy is Good, from an inspection in June 2023.

When was Furness Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Furness Academy was last inspected in June 2023.

How many pupils does Furness Academy have?

Furness Academy has 1,187 pupils on roll.

What age range does Furness Academy cover?

Furness Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Furness Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.8, and 32% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Furness Academy?

Furness Academy is at Park Drive, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA13 9BB.