Brighouse High School

Brighouse High School is a safe, inclusive and well-run school in many respects. Safeguarding is met, pupils behave well, attendance is generally strong and persistent absence is being tackled with tailored support, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Pupils benefit from a coherent personal development programme, a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities, and effective careers guidance. Sixth-form provision is well designed, with high-quality teaching and strong preparation for students' next steps, and the vast majority move on to sustained education or employment. However, several important areas need attention. Achievement is uneven: overall performance has declined recently, and 2024/25 outcomes in English and maths, Attainment 8 and disadvantaged pupils' results are below national averages. Teaching quality varies in key stages 3 and 4, with inconsistent checks on understanding, insufficient revisiting of prior learning and some pupils' writing difficulties not being addressed consistently. Leaders' improvement actions lack precision, professional development is not sharply targeted, and governors do not yet have a precise enough picture of weaknesses. This is a full section 5 inspection of a larger-than-average secondary school and sixth form within Brighouse High School Academy Trust, a single academy trust. The headteacher is Mr Richard Horsfield. The school makes use of five alternative provisions, four of which are unregistered. The next steps focus on sharper improvement planning, better professional learning, embedding consistently effective teaching and improving national-test outcomes, including the highest levels in the sixth form.

Strengths

• Safeguarding arrangements are effective and pupils feel safe.
• Pupils behave well, low-level disruption is rare, and bullying is dealt with quickly and effectively.
• Attendance is monitored closely with tailored support, helping reduce persistent absence, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders identify pupils' needs quickly and accurately, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Pupils receive strong mental health and wellbeing support and timely additional help.
• The personal development curriculum is coherent, sequenced, and prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of leadership, enrichment, and community opportunities.
• Sixth-form provision is well designed, with high-quality teaching and strong preparation for next steps.
• Staff feel well supported by leaders, and governance is committed and experienced.
• Pupils, including sixth-form students, receive suitable careers advice and mostly progress to sustained education or employment.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement is variable, with gaps in learning for a minority of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Overall performance has declined recently, with 2024/25 outcomes in English and maths, Attainment 8 and other key measures below national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are below national averages, and the disadvantage gap remains wide.
• Teaching quality varies across key stages 3 and 4; teachers do not consistently check understanding or address errors.
• Pupils have too few opportunities to revisit prior learning, affecting retention of important knowledge.
• Some pupils needing extra help with writing do not consistently receive it and do not catch up quickly enough.
• Leaders' improvement actions lack precision, and weaknesses in teaching have not been addressed quickly enough.
• Professional learning does not specifically target areas of improvement or build staff expertise effectively.
• Governors do not have a precise enough picture of the school's areas of weakness.
• In the sixth form, a minority of students do not achieve as highly as they could, and 2024/25 A-level average point score and value added were below national averages.

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 Brighouse High School attended 91.4% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.2% 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, 8.0% of pupils at Brighouse High 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 Brighouse High School had 16.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.4% 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, 12.8% of pupils at Brighouse High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.9% 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 Brighouse High School received £7,800 and spent £7,847 for each of its 1,320 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £70,000 (-£53 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.

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What is Brighouse High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Brighouse High School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Brighouse High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Brighouse High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Brighouse High School have?

Brighouse High School has 1,317 pupils on roll.

What age range does Brighouse High School cover?

Brighouse High School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Brighouse High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 43.4, and 38% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Brighouse High School?

Brighouse High School is at Finkil Street, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 2NY.