Appleby Grammar School
Academy converter · sixth form · 357 pupils
74% stayed in education · Attainment 8 40.7
Community school
Dowdales School
- Pupils on roll
- 877of 1,050 places
- Free school meals
- 20.8%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 150
- Ofsted
- Standards maintained, 5 February 2025Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
Dowdales School has no sixth form. Of the 178 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, none moved to a sixth form college, 61% to a further education college and 18% started an apprenticeship.
Apprenticeships are a real route from here: 18% of leavers started one, roughly three times the England figure of 3%.
Art and Design is unusually popular at GCSE: 34% of the year group took it, against 7% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 41.8 against 46.1 across England and 45.4 in Westmorland and Furness, with 26% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Westmorland and Furness and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Dowdales School | Westmorland and Furness | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 178 | 2,451 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 93% | 95% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 70% | 78% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 9% | 32% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | — | 13% |
| — further education college | 61% | 45% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 18% | 11% | 3% |
| Employment | 4% | 5% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 6% | 4% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 2% | 1% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Dowdales School | Westmorland and Furness | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 41.8 | 45.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 26% | 42% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 52% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 20% | 24% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.41 | 3.90 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 17% | 17% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 35.8 | 34.1 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 42.9 | 47.7 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 3% | 5% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 147 | 98% | 89% | 6% | 20% | 67% |
| Mathematics | 147 | 98% | 88% | 7% | 22% | 59% |
| English Literature | 147 | 98% | 86% | 10% | 21% | 68% |
| Combined Science | 107 | 71% | 65% | 5% | 9% | 54% |
| Geography | 69 | 46% | 41% | 12% | 25% | 45% |
| History | 63 | 42% | 41% | 10% | 26% | 48% |
| Art and Design | 51 | 34% | 7% | 22% | 24% | 84% |
| Physics | 40 | 27% | 23% | 18% | 46% | 78% |
| Chemistry | 40 | 27% | 23% | 18% | 47% | 68% |
| Biology | 39 | 26% | 23% | 18% | 45% | 74% |
| Media Studies | 29 | 19% | 4% | 10% | 20% | 52% |
| German | 29 | 19% | 5% | 10% | 33% | 83% |
| Design and Technology | 28 | 19% | 11% | 7% | 23% | 61% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 22 | 15% | 8% | 23% | 21% | 82% |
| Citizenship Studies | 21 | 14% | 3% | 0% | 19% | 86% |
| Dance | 17 | 11% | 1% | 12% | 27% | 59% |
| Computer Science | 17 | 11% | 13% | 18% | 30% | 47% |
| French | 15 | 10% | 18% | 13% | 29% | 60% |
| Drama | 14 | 9% | 7% | 14% | 27% | 93% |
| Music | 8 | 5% | 5% | 0% | 33% | 63% |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Engineering | 38 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 35 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 29 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 24 | — | — |
| Sports / Movement Science | 5 | — | — |
Where Dowdales School is
Other secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from Westmorland and Furness’s allocation statistics.
Other secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness
Cartmel Priory CofE School
Academy converter · 371 pupils
85% stayed in education · Attainment 8 47.2
Chetwynde School
Free schools · 508 pupils
76% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.2
Dallam School
Academy converter · sixth form · 761 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.1
Furness Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,187 pupils
72% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.4
John Ruskin School
Community school · 247 pupils
76% stayed in education · Attainment 8 52.9
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.