Leicestershire’s learners are now several weeks into their new school term, and should be starting to get into the swing of things.
The summer holidays ended in late August for most local schoolchildren, with the 2025/26 school year beginning in late August - a little earlier than many of their fellow students throughout England. Across the county, about 12 thousand of these pupils will have just started at new state secondary schools - setting out on an important learning journey which will see them earn important qualifications like their GCSEs.
To mark the occasion, we’ve revisited the top performing state secondary schools across the Leicester City and Leicestershire County council areas, using our own ‘gold standard’ for schools. The key figure this uses is each school’s latest Progress 8 score (currently from 2024), an official figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements which helps to determine how quickly pupils progressed compared to peers from similar starting points.
Any score above 0 is positive, but we’ve limited our league table to only schools with a 0.3 or above - considered a strong ‘above average’ performance. It is worth noting that this data has now been finalised, so results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results.
But since exam results aren’t the only measure of a great learning environment, we’ve also made sure all schools included had positive ratings in their latest Ofsted inspections. These are going through an overhaul at the minute, but only schools with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system or positive ratings across all categories under the current one have been included. This means that quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices all met or exceeded expectation.
Here are the 19 schools from across Leicestershire which triumphed this year:
17. Crown Hills Community College
This is a local authority-maintained secondary school in Leicester’s Crown Hills area. In a recent Ofsted inspection, it was found to be ‘outstanding’ in all measures. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.32. | Google
18. Judgemeadow Community College
Judgemeadow is a secondary academy in Leicester’s Evington area, most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.32. | Google
19. St Paul's Catholic School
Rounding out the list is St Paul’s, a Catholic secondary academy and sixth form in Leicester. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.3. | Google