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Balshaw's Church of England High School vs Academy@Worden

At a glance

Balshaw's Church of England High School and Academy@Worden are both in Lancashire and 1.2 miles apart in a straight line.

Only Balshaw's Church of England High School has a graded Ofsted inspection in our data (Good, 2023).

Balshaw's Church of England High School had the higher Attainment 8 score in 2025-26 (provisional): 53.0 against 42.4 (a gap of 10.6 points).

Progress 8 was not published for 2025-26 (provisional) so this comparison relies on attainment.

Overall absence in 2024-25 was 5.1% at Balshaw's Church of England High School and 6.9% at Academy@Worden.

Balshaw's Church of England High School has 933 pupils for 925 published places (101%) and Academy@Worden has 618 for 590 (105%).

Balshaw's Church of England High School has a Church of England religious character and this can affect admissions priority. Academy@Worden has none recorded.

Built from the figures in the table below. Sources and years are given next to every figure.

Side by side

Balshaw's Church of England High School compared with Academy@Worden
Measure Balshaw's Church of England High School Academy@Worden
Ofsted
Overall Ofsted grade Ofsted MI, inspections to 31 May 2026 Good 2023 No graded inspection in our data
School profile
Type GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract Voluntary controlled school Academy converter
Phase and age range GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract Secondary, ages 11-16 Secondary, ages 11-16
Location GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract Leyland, Lancashire Leyland, Lancashire
Pupils on roll GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract 933 618
Results and attendanceEach row shows the latest year both schools have a figure for. "Stronger" marks a gap big enough to matter in a year both schools report. Rounding-level differences are not marked. Attainment figures reflect each school's intake as well as its teaching. Progress 8 is the only measure here that adjusts for pupils' starting points.
Attainment 8 (average score) DfE KS4 results, 2025-26 (provisional) 53.0 Stronger 42.4
Progress 8 score DfE KS4 results, 2023-24 Progress 8 was not published for the 2025-26 (provisional) results because the Department for Education did not calculate it for that cohort. The last published year is shown. Confidence intervals overlap so there is no clear difference. +0.18 -0.25
Grade 5+ in English and maths DfE KS4 results, 2025-26 (provisional) 51% Stronger 31%
Grade 4+ in English and maths DfE KS4 results, 2025-26 (provisional) 76% Stronger 51%
Pupils at the end of key stage 4 DfE KS4 results, 2025-26 (provisional) 179 86
A-level average point score DfE A-level results, no year Not published Not published
A-level average grade DfE A-level results, no year Not published Not published
A-level students in the point score measure DfE A-level results, no year Not published Not published
Overall absence (lower is better) DfE pupil absence, 2024-25 5.1% Stronger 6.9%
Persistent absence (lower is better) DfE pupil absence, 2024-25 Share of pupils missing 10% or more of sessions. 12.9% Stronger 17.7%
Intake and admissionsNot marked as stronger or weaker. These rows describe who a school serves and how its places are filled. They do not measure teaching quality so a higher or lower figure is not better.
Pupils eligible for free school meals GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract 12.8% 31.7%
Published capacity (places) GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract 925 590
Pupils on roll as % of capacity GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract, pupils divided by capacity 101% 105%
Admissions policy GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract Non-selective Non-selective
Religious character GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract Church of England None recorded

"Not published" means the figure is not published or is suppressed for that school and year. It does not mean zero.

Trends over time

Solid blue line with round markers: Balshaw's Church of England High School. Dashed amber line with square markers: Academy@Worden. Years with no published figure for either school are left off the axis.

Attainment 8 (average score), higher is better
Attainment 8 (average score) by yearBalshaw's Church of England High School: 2022-23 50.7, 2023-24 52.1, 2024-25 52.3, 2025-26 53.0. Academy@Worden: 2022-23 38.3, 2023-24 41.6, 2024-25 43.2, 2025-26 42.4.35.040.045.050.055.022-2323-2424-2525-26
Show these figures as a table
YearBalshaw's Church of England High SchoolAcademy@Worden
2022-2350.738.3
2023-2452.141.6
2024-2552.343.2
2025-26 (provisional)53.042.4

Source: DfE key stage 4 results, 2022-23 to 2025-26. The latest year is provisional.

Overall absence (% of sessions), lower is better
Overall absence (% of sessions) by yearBalshaw's Church of England High School: 2018-19 3.8%, 2021-22 7.5%, 2022-23 6.3%, 2023-24 6.2%, 2024-25 5.1%. Academy@Worden: 2018-19 4.6%, 2021-22 10.2%, 2022-23 9.3%, 2023-24 8.0%, 2024-25 6.9%.2.04.06.08.010.012.018-1921-2222-2323-2424-25
Show these figures as a table
YearBalshaw's Church of England High SchoolAcademy@Worden
2018-193.8%4.6%
2021-227.5%10.2%
2022-236.3%9.3%
2023-246.2%8.0%
2024-255.1%6.9%

Source: DfE pupil absence, 2018-19 to 2024-25.

Grade 5+ in English and maths (% of pupils), higher is better
Grade 5+ in English and maths (% of pupils) by yearBalshaw's Church of England High School: 2022-23 53%, 2023-24 58%, 2024-25 57%, 2025-26 51%. Academy@Worden: 2022-23 33%, 2023-24 37%, 2024-25 43%, 2025-26 31%.3040506022-2323-2424-2525-26
Show these figures as a table
YearBalshaw's Church of England High SchoolAcademy@Worden
2022-2353%33%
2023-2458%37%
2024-2557%43%
2025-26 (provisional)51%31%

Source: DfE key stage 4 results, 2022-23 to 2025-26. The latest year is provisional.

Admissions: how the two schools differ

Distance between the schools: 1.2 miles in a straight line between the two school sites. The coordinates come from the GIAS (DfE) March 2026 extract. This is not a walking or driving distance and it does not show which school your address is in catchment for.

How full they are: pupils on roll divided by published capacity from the GIAS (DfE) March 2026 extract. Both figures cover every year group (including any sixth form). Treat the percentage as a rough guide to demand rather than the size of the Year 7 intake.

Balshaw's Church of England High School

Capacity
925 places
Pupils on roll
933
Full
101% (at or over capacity)
Admissions policy
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England

Source: GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract. Each school's own admissions policy sets its oversubscription criteria. It is published by Lancashire (official admissions page) or by the school.

Check the catchment for your postcode Balshaw's Church of England High School catchment page

Academy@Worden

Capacity
590 places
Pupils on roll
618
Full
105% (at or over capacity)
Admissions policy
Non-selective
Religious character
None recorded

Source: GIAS (DfE), March 2026 extract. Each school's own admissions policy sets its oversubscription criteria. It is published by Lancashire (official admissions page) or by the school.

Check the catchment for your postcode Academy@Worden catchment page

Sources

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Attainment 8 and Progress 8 are only comparable between schools within the same year.

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