Carnforth High School

Carnforth High School is a mainstream secondary school and part of The Bay Learning Trust. Inspectors found it to be inclusive and calm, with safeguarding met and most areas judged at the expected standard, including attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. Leaders have created clear routines and a respectful culture, pupils feel safe and bullying is rare, and support for pupils with SEND and other barriers is a notable strength. The school also has a well-planned personal development and careers programme and offers a broad range of enrichment opportunities. The main concerns are achievement and curriculum and teaching. GCSE attainment at the end of key stage 4 has been below national averages over time, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, while making progress, typically achieve grades below average. In lessons, assessment information is not consistently used to adapt teaching, teachers sometimes move on before pupils have secured key knowledge, and tasks are not always ambitious enough in some subjects. This can leave or widen gaps in pupils' knowledge. Attendance remains a priority: overall absence and persistent absence are above national averages, although leaders' actions are improving rates, including for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders know more needs to be done, especially around teaching quality, and next steps focus on consistently using assessment, setting ambitious tasks, continuing attendance improvements, and monitoring the impact of actions.

Strengths

• Creates a calm, respectful and welcoming school culture where pupils feel safe and bullying is rare.
• Responds quickly and appropriately to behaviour incidents and reviews them to prevent recurrence.
• Is inclusive and identifies barriers to learning effectively, particularly for pupils with SEND.
• Uses external professionals and additional funding well to support pupils with extra needs, including EAL and pastoral support.
• Provides targeted support that helps pupils improve reading, mathematics and handwriting.
• Has a suitably ambitious, well-organised curriculum with teachers who have secure subject knowledge.
• Offers a well-planned personal development programme that develops pupils' understanding of safety, healthy relationships and British values.
• Provides effective pastoral support and strong relationships between pupils and staff.
• Runs a broad range of clubs, trips, leadership roles and enrichment activities, with financial support for participation.
• Has an effective careers programme, including work experience and university visits.
• Has strong leadership and governance that understand the school, support staff workload and provide useful professional development.
• Has improved attendance and reduced persistent absence through analysis, support, home visits and rewards.

Areas for Improvement

• GCSE attainment at the end of key stage 4 has been consistently below the national average.
• Some pupils struggle to apply and consolidate their knowledge in lessons.
• Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND typically achieve grades below average, despite making progress.
• Assessment information is not consistently used to adapt teaching and close gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Teachers sometimes move on too quickly before all pupils have secured important knowledge.
• Gaps in pupils' knowledge are not closed quickly enough and can widen.
• Support strategies for pupils who find learning difficult are not always as effective as leaders intend.
• In some subjects, tasks are not ambitious enough to help pupils apply their learning.
• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, with some activities not linked to the curriculum's ambitious aims.
• Overall attendance and persistent absence remain above national averages, and some pupils' attendance is too low.
• Leaders need to monitor the impact of improvement actions to ensure consistent improvement over time.

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 Carnforth High School attended 88.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 33.1% 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, 15.9% of pupils at Carnforth High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 6 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 Carnforth High School had 16.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.5% 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, 19.6% of pupils at Carnforth High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.3% 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 Carnforth High School received £8,434 and spent £8,441 for each of its 687 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £527,000 (£766 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of The Bay Learning Trust, income was £8,281 and spending £8,251 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 Carnforth · Lancashire local authority: places and applications

Carnforth High School is part of The Bay Learning Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Lancaster High School Lancaster
• Morecambe Bay Academy Morecambe
• Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy Lancaster
• Barnacre Road Primary School Longridge
• Longridge High School Preston

What is Carnforth High School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Carnforth High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Carnforth High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Carnforth High School have?

Carnforth High School has 657 pupils on roll.

What age range does Carnforth High School cover?

Carnforth High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Carnforth High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 43.5, and 37% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Carnforth High School?

Carnforth High School is at Kellet Road, Carnforth, Lancashire, LA5 9LS.