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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 · 234 entries 92%
  2. 2 St Mary's Catholic High School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy Chesterfield · 204 entries 89%
  3. 3 Lady Manners School Bakewell · 229 entries 84%
  4. 4 John Flamsteed Community School Ripley · 156 entries 83%
  5. 5 John Port Spencer Academy Derby · 320 entries 83%
  6. 6 Wilsthorpe School Nottingham · 207 entries 82%
  7. 7 St Thomas More Catholic Voluntary Academy Buxton · 89 entries 82%
  8. 8 Granville Academy Swadlincote · 164 entries 81%
  9. 9 Brookfield Community School Chesterfield · 174 entries 81%
  10. 10 Heanor Gate Spencer Academy Heanor · 215 entries 81%
  11. 11 Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School Dronfield · 288 entries 80%
  12. 12 The Bolsover School Chesterfield · 149 entries 79%
  13. 13 Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Ashbourne · 216 entries 78%
  14. 14 Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy Ilkeston · 146 entries 77%
  15. 15 Belper School and Sixth Form Centre Belper · 204 entries 75%
  16. 16 Outwood Academy Hasland Hall Chesterfield · 149 entries 75%
  17. 17 Outwood Academy Newbold Chesterfield · 174 entries 75%
  18. 18 The Pingle Academy Swadlincote · 212 entries 72%
  19. 19 Highfields School Matlock · 198 entries 71%
  20. 20 Friesland School Sandiacre · 209 entries 71%
  21. 21 Chapel-en-le-Frith High School High Peak · 168 entries 70%
  22. 22 Anthony Gell School Matlock · 123 entries 70%
  23. 23 Tibshelf Community School Alfreton · 159 entries 70%
  24. 24 Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy Ilkeston · 187 entries 70%
  25. 25 Heritage High School Chesterfield · 166 entries 69%
  26. 26 The Ripley Academy Ripley · 117 entries 69%
  27. 27 Frederick Gent School Alfreton · 153 entries 69%
  28. 28 Hope Valley College Hope Valley · 105 entries 69%
  29. 29 Tupton Hall School Chesterfield · 235 entries 69%
  30. 30 Swanwick Hall School Alfreton · 191 entries 68%
  31. 31 Netherthorpe School Chesterfield · 155 entries 68%
  32. 32 New Mills School High Peak · 123 entries 67%
  33. 33 The Long Eaton School Nottingham · 169 entries 67%
  34. 34 Springwell Community College Chesterfield · 168 entries 66%
  35. 35 Parkside Community School Chesterfield · 91 entries 66%
  36. 36 Glossopdale School and Sixth Form Glossop · 197 entries 65%
  37. 37 Kirk Hallam Community Academy Ilkeston · 138 entries 62%
  38. 38 David Nieper Academy Alfreton · 121 entries 61%
  39. 39 Eckington School Sheffield · 197 entries 61%
  40. 40 Shirebrook Academy Mansfield · 153 entries 61%
  41. 41 Whittington Green School Chesterfield · 94 entries 60%
  42. 42 St Philip Howard Catholic Voluntary Academy Glossop · 109 entries 59%
  43. 43 Buxton Community School Buxton · 186 entries 56%
  44. 44 Aldercar High School Nottingham · 98 entries 54%
  45. 45 Mercia Academy Swadlincote · 110 entries 52%
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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.