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Cowley Academy

Academy · ages 11–16 · no sixth form

Below average on 3 of the four headline measures — 47th of 54 for average grade in Lincolnshire.

Spalding · Lincolnshire · one of 54 state secondaries

How we read the data

Summary

Cowley Academy sits 47th of 54 state secondaries in Lincolnshire for average GCSE grade. 34.4% of its pupils passed both English and maths, against 62.9% across Lincolnshire. 16.8% reached the stronger grade 5 in both. Subject by subject only maths and geography sits measurably behind Lincolnshire. Ofsted: Inspected in May 2025, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.

It is an academy of 621 pupils, taking ages 11 to 16. 36.2% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals, a high share by national standards, and 8.8% are on SEN support with a further 5.6% holding an education, health and care plan. 4.8% were entered for the full EBacc, fewer than the 37.2% entered across Lincolnshire, which is a choice about how broad a curriculum to push. 22.8% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, about the same as Lincolnshire, and 81.6% of its leavers went on to further education.

Subject comparisons are measured at grade 4 or above against Lincolnshire, and count as ahead or behind only where the gap is wider than the year-to-year swing that entry group would produce.

The school·Lincolnshire

Inspection

Graded by area

Inspected May 2025

Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Leadership and management
Outstanding
Personal development
Good
Quality of education
Good
  • May 2025 Full inspection

Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade in September 2024.

Read the Ofsted report

Attendance

23% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, against 23% across Lincolnshire and 21% nationally. The comparators are the median secondary school, not an average.

GCSE · Key stage 4·2024/25

Attainment

34%

Passed English & maths grade 4+, an old grade C

well below average

Lincolnshire 63% · England 65%

17%

Strong pass in both grade 5+, a strong pass

well below average

Lincolnshire 42% · England 45%

36.5

Average grade across 8 Attainment 8, out of 90

in line with average

Lincolnshire 45.1 · England 46.1

5%

Entered for the EBacc the academic core of subjects

well below average

Lincolnshire 37% · England 41%

After Year 11

82% stayed in education, 6% started an apprenticeship (2022/23 leavers)

GCSE results by subject

2024/25 · share reaching grade 4 or above · a standard pass, the old grade C

this school Lincolnshire England

Every bar is on the same 0–100% scale, so subjects can be read against each other as well as against the county and England. A dash means the figure does not exist rather than being zero. The county and England lines cover state-funded schools only, the same schools you can browse here, because independent schools sit outside the Department for Education's subject release and outside this site.

Compare these subjects against another school, side by side.

Maths is the subject most of this year group sat. Maths tutors on Tutorperch.

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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.
The EBacc
A combination of subjects rather than a qualification in its own right: English, Maths, the Sciences, a Language, and History or Geography. The figure shows the share of pupils entered for all the EBacc subject areas, so it gives an indication of how widely a school enters pupils for this particular combination of subjects.
Progress 8
A measure of how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and the end of GCSE, rather than simply what grades they achieve. It takes pupils' prior attainment into account, making it useful for comparing schools with different intakes. Progress 8 is not published for 2024/25 because the pupils concerned did not have Key Stage 2 tests that can be used as the normal starting point.
Percentage points
The gap between two percentages. A subject going from 30% to 36% has risen six percentage points, though it has risen by a fifth. We write "pp" to keep the two apart.
Why some subjects say nothing
A year group is small. Where a gap is no bigger than the swing a different intake would produce, we say the subjects are level rather than dressing chance as a finding. Two kinds of subject carry no share at all: a vocational award has no 9-to-1 grade to report, and some qualifications are not published on the 9-to-1 scale for a given year group, most often community languages sat outside the school's own timetable.
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.
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.

School details

School Lane
Donington
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE11 4TF

01775 820254
Head
Mrs Katherine Kilby
Trust
South Lincolnshire Academies Trust
Pupils
621 of 640 places
Spare places
3%
Free school meals
36%
SEND
9% on SEN support, 6% with an EHC plan
Progress 8
Not published · last -0.12 in 2023/24

Other schools in Lincolnshire

53 schools. Distances are straight-line from this school.

Tutorperch School report by Tutorperch
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included. The four figures at the top compare against the Department for Education's national release, which counts special schools and alternative provision as well, so it sits slightly below the average of the schools listed on this site. Subject comparisons are pooled from those schools directly.

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