tutorperch
First Tutors closed Read guide

State secondary schools in Derbyshire

45 schools · East Midlands · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Derbyshire has 45 state secondaries, 27 of them with sixth forms. 94.5% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 22.2% to 73.3% passing English and maths, a spread of 51 points, with a middle school at 41.3%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 2 rated Outstanding, 26 Good, 1 Requires improvement, 1 Inadequate. 15 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

Derby
45 schools in Derbyshire. Tap one, or see the full list. Derby is a separate council, marked on the map.
22% 73% passed English & maths

Derbyshire against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

43%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

2.5% below England

England 45%

45

Attainment 8 average score

1.1 below England

England 46.1

22%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

in line with England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Derbyshire

94.5%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

98.5%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0.1%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

37%

Appeals upheld56 of 152 heard

These are figures for Derbyshire as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Derbyshire's 45 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 22% to 73%. That is a spread of 51 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Derbyshire schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistoryenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencegeographyartphysicschemistrybiologyspanishdesign technologycomputer sciencebusiness studiesphysical educationfrenchfood technologygerman
  1. 1 The Ecclesbourne School Belper · 138 entries 89%
  2. 2 St Mary's Catholic High School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy Chesterfield · 127 entries 86%
  3. 3 Brookfield Community School Chesterfield · 85 entries 81%
  4. 4 John Port Spencer Academy Derby · 104 entries 80%
  5. 5 Parkside Community School Chesterfield · 23 entries 78%
  6. 6 Anthony Gell School Matlock · 57 entries 77%
  7. 7 St Thomas More Catholic Voluntary Academy Buxton · 41 entries 76%
  8. 8 Lady Manners School Bakewell · 147 entries 75%
  9. 9 New Mills School High Peak · 40 entries 73%
  10. 10 Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School Dronfield · 117 entries 70%
  11. 11 Wilsthorpe School Nottingham · 59 entries 68%
  12. 12 John Flamsteed Community School Ripley · 95 entries 67%
  13. 13 Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Ashbourne · 151 entries 66%
  14. 14 Friesland School Sandiacre · 91 entries 66%
  15. 15 Frederick Gent School Alfreton · 87 entries 66%
  16. 16 Highfields School Matlock · 78 entries 65%
  17. 17 Swanwick Hall School Alfreton · 92 entries 65%
  18. 18 Kirk Hallam Community Academy Ilkeston · 79 entries 65%
  19. 19 Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy Ilkeston · 63 entries 63%
  20. 20 Tupton Hall School Chesterfield · 120 entries 63%
  21. 21 Shirebrook Academy Mansfield · 49 entries 63%
  22. 22 Buxton Community School Buxton · 84 entries 63%
  23. 23 Belper School and Sixth Form Centre Belper · 77 entries 62%
  24. 24 Netherthorpe School Chesterfield · 61 entries 62%
  25. 25 Chapel-en-le-Frith High School High Peak · 75 entries 61%
  26. 26 Heanor Gate Spencer Academy Heanor · 126 entries 61%
  27. 27 Outwood Academy Newbold Chesterfield · 99 entries 61%
  28. 28 David Nieper Academy Alfreton · 43 entries 58%
  29. 29 Tibshelf Community School Alfreton · 57 entries 56%
  30. 30 Hope Valley College Hope Valley · 84 entries 56%
  31. 31 The Long Eaton School Nottingham · 77 entries 56%
  32. 32 The Bolsover School Chesterfield · 91 entries 55%
  33. 33 Outwood Academy Hasland Hall Chesterfield · 67 entries 54%
  34. 34 Glossopdale School and Sixth Form Glossop · 43 entries 53%
  35. 35 Mercia Academy Swadlincote · 45 entries 53%
  36. 36 Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy Ilkeston · 90 entries 53%
  37. 37 Aldercar High School Nottingham · 21 entries 52%
  38. 38 Eckington School Sheffield · 121 entries 50%
  39. 39 The Ripley Academy Ripley · 78 entries 47%
  40. 40 St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary Academy Glossop · 48 entries 46%
  41. 41 Heritage High School Chesterfield · 77 entries 43%
  42. 42 Granville Academy Swadlincote · 75 entries 43%
  43. 43 Springwell Community College Chesterfield · 65 entries 42%
  44. 44 The Pingle Academy Swadlincote · 55 entries 40%
geography tutors

Parent guides

Thinking about a tutor?

Every school in Derbyshire

Derby sits inside Derbyshire but runs its own admissions as a separate local authority, so its schools are not in this list.

8 of 45 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Derbyshire

26 of Derbyshire's 27 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Derbyshire

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Barnsley 11 schools · 45% passed English & mathsCheshire East 23 schools · 45% passed English & mathsDerby 16 schools · 39% passed English & mathsKirklees 25 schools · 47% passed English & mathsLeicestershire 44 schools · 47% passed English & mathsNottinghamshire 44 schools · 47% passed English & mathsOldham 14 schools · 37% passed English & mathsRotherham 16 schools · 39% passed English & mathsSheffield 29 schools · 42% passed English & mathsStaffordshire 56 schools · 40% passed English & mathsStockport 14 schools · 49% passed English & mathsTameside 16 schools · 41% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.