Local authority · East of England
Bedford has 21 secondary schools in this dataset — 16 state-funded and 5 independent. 1 is selective, admitting on an entrance test; 2 have a religious character; 15 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of +0.19 (average) — 0.20 of a grade per subject above the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 12 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.26 to +1.00. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.95 first preferences per place — the same as the national median. 3 of the 12 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 8.5% for the typical school here, below the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bedford Free SchoolFree schools | +1.00well above average | +0.82 to +1.392023–24 | 52.8 | 1.54× | Outstanding |
| 2 | Goldington AcademyAcademy converter | +0.82well above average | +0.63 to +1.072023–24 | 54.4 | 1.49× | Strong standard (achievement) |
| 3 | Lincroft AcademyAcademy converter | +0.37above average | +0.20 to +0.592023–24 | 51.3 | 0.94× | — |
| 4 | St Thomas More Catholic SchoolAcademy converter | +0.27above average | +0.07 to +0.542023–24 | 47.9 | 0.85× | Good |
| 5 | Biddenham International School and Sports CollegeFoundation school | +0.25above average | -0.09 to +0.332023–24 | 42.5 | 1.06× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 6 | Sharnbrook AcademyAcademy converter | +0.19average | -0.01 to +0.342023–24 | 51.1 | 0.96× | — |
| 7 | Wixams AcademyFree schools | +0.19average | +0.02 to +0.442023–24 | 47.2 | 0.92× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 8 | Bedford AcademyAcademy sponsor led | +0.03average | +0.23 to +0.632023–24 | 40.9 | 0.97× | Good |
| 9 | Wootton AcademyAcademy converter | -0.12average | -0.34 to -0.012023–24 | 45.1 | 0.96× | Good (Concerns) (ungraded) |
| 10 | Kempston AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.13average | -0.33 to +0.162023–24 | 36.8 | 0.89× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 11 | Mark Rutherford SchoolAcademy converter | -0.14average | -0.23 to +0.142023–24 | 43.3 | 0.83× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 12 | Daubeney AcademyAcademy converter | -0.26below average | -0.32 to +0.372023–24 | 36.6 | 0.86× | — |
1 of the 11 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Bedford Free School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 5 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Bedford College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| Bedford Girls' School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Bedford Greenacre Independent School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Bedford Modern School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Bedford School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Castle Newnham School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| KWS School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Kimberley 16 - 19 Stem College | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Marston Vale Middle School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
The most sought-after school in Bedford for 2026 entry was Bedford Free School at 1.54 first preferences per place — 168 families named it first for 109 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Bedford on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Bedford you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.