With just days left to get secondary school applications for next year in, making sure you’re well-informed about which local school will be the best fit for your child is more important than ever.
The Government has recently released its preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools for the 2024/25 school year - just in time. But these look a little different this time around, with the default metric used to compare schools switching to Attainment 8 scores, a purely performance-based figure derived from learners’ results in up to eight GCSE subjects. The usual, improvement-based Progress 8 scores couldn’t be calculated this year, due to the pandemic disruptions this cohort faced back in primary school.
To help families make sense of these new numbers and to celebrate the Milton Keynes schools which have done especially well over the most recent GCSE season, we’ve created a league table of those across the Milton Keynes City Council area which achieved the highest scores.
Attainment 8 scores go up to 90 and loosely align with GCSE 9-1 number grades, with the national average being 45.9 this year - somewhere between the standard and strong passing grades of 4 to 5. The average across the city’s council area was 44.2, and we’ve only included schools with scores above this local average. Where two have the same score, they have been ordered alphabetically.
But grades aren’t everything, so we’ve also made sure each school included had a positive mark in its latest Ofsted inspection. These are set to change from next month, but in the meantime, we’ve only included schools with either a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade before last September, or positive ratings across all categories if they’ve been inspected since.
Here are the 9 local schools which made the grade:
1. Oakgrove School
One of the highest-achieving schools in Milton Keynes, this is an all-through academy in the Oakgrove area. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 54.6 – compared to a local average of 44.2 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
2. Denbigh School
Denbigh School is a secondary academy in the Shenley Church End area, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 54.2 – compared to a local average of 44.2 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
3. Watling Academy
Watling Academy is a secondary academy in the Whitehouse area, most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 50.2 – compared to a local average of 44.2 and a national average of 45.9. | Google
4. Kents Hill Park School
This is an all-through academy in the Kents Hill area, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2024/25 school year, it had an Attainment 8 score of 50.1 – compared to a local average of 44.2 and a national average of 45.9. | Google