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North Cambridge Academy
B−

North Cambridge Academy

SecondaryAges 11–16Academy

Cambridge, CB4 2JF · Cambridgeshire local authority

Cambridge’s School Grade A− better than 83% of towns in England

Photo: Keith Edkins · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Its letter
50%
of England’s secondaries have lower GCSE results
Getting in
68/68
first choices offered a place, 2026 (England: 84%)
How full
687 pupils
92% of its 750 places
Free school meals
52%
52 in 100 pupils eligible · outlined square = England’s schools (30)
The gist

What stands out about North Cambridge Academy

  • Its own letter, B−: GCSE results better than 50% of England’s secondary schools
  • 52% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (more than England’s 30%)
  • Ofsted: Inspected, February 2025 (shown, not graded)
  • Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (68 of 68)
  • Progress 8 of +0.19 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did about as well at GCSE as pupils nationally with the same results at 11
  • Homes in its postcode sector (CB4 2) sold for a median £380,000; Cambridge’s is £484,602

Results

DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 122 pupils

Each bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools North Cambridge beats are shaded green.

Attainment 8 48.6

Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 63% of schools · Cambridgeshire avg 50

20304050607080England avg 47.3North Cambridge 48.6

Grade 5+ in English and maths 40%

A strong pass · higher than 37% of schools · Cambridgeshire avg 52%

0%20%40%60%80%100%England avg 47.3%North Cambridge 40%

Attainment 8, three years

The mark is England’s average that year

2023/24
46.7
2024/25
43.9
2025/26
48.6

Progress 8, 2023/24

−1 behind0 = national+1 ahead

+0.19: about average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).

Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26

Attainment 8 for the 57 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools

Disadvantaged
40.8England 38.6
Not disadvantaged
55.4England 50.6
Grade 4 or above in English and maths62%
England’s schools 66% · Cambridgeshire 70% · a standard pass

England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.

Getting in

How hard is it to get a place at North Cambridge Academy?

Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.

68
families put it first for September 2026
150
places offered
100%
of first choices offered a place (England’s secondaries: 84%)
First choices and places, by year of entry
20192020202120222023202420252026
Families who put it firstPlaces offered

In every year shown, every family who put it first was offered a place. The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Meridian Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Cambridgeshire council’s coordinated admissions.

Demand for secondary schools in Cambridge, September 2026

Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places

1.68 per place
59% got their first choice
1.63 per place
60% got their first choice
1.19 per place
75% got their first choice
0.93 per place
95% got their first choice
0.77 per place
100% got their first choice
0.47 per place
100% got their first choice
North Cambridge
0.45 per place
100% got their first choice

Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, side by side

2025/26

All 33 graded secondaries in Cambridgeshire. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Cambridge’s schools are coloured by their letter.

35424956637010%20%30%40%50%60%Pupils eligible for free school meals →Attainment 8 →ParksideColeridgeChestertonSt Bede's Inter-ChurchThe NetherhallTrumpingtonNorth Cambridge
ABCDElsewhere in CambridgeshireNorth Cambridge
Show as a table
SchoolLetterFree school mealsAttainment 8
Parkside Community CollegeA+18%65.9
Chesterton Community CollegeA18%65.4
St Bede's Inter-Church SchoolA17%62.9
Impington Village CollegeA14%61.4
Coleridge Community CollegeA39%58.7
Comberton Village CollegeA15%56.8
Trumpington Community CollegeA35%56.6
Swavesey Village CollegeA−16%55.7
Sawston Village CollegeA−17%54.2
Cambourne Village CollegeA−18%53.7
Ely CollegeA−17%53.7
Cottenham Village CollegeA−21%52.9
Northstowe Learning CommunityA−20%52.8
Soham Village CollegeA−21%52.5
St Ivo AcademyA−20%51.3
Bottisham Village CollegeB+21%50.7
Hinchingbrooke SchoolB26%49
Linton Village CollegeB16%48.8
North Cambridge AcademyB−52%48.6
Longsands AcademyB25%48.2
Sawtry Village AcademyB21%47.9
The Netherhall SchoolB31%46.8
Abbey College, RamseyC+27%45.4
Bassingbourn Village CollegeC+18%44.7
Melbourn Village CollegeC+27%43.7
Ernulf AcademyC+32%43.4
Witchford Village CollegeC+27%42.3
Cromwell Community CollegeC28%42
Vista Academy LittleportC−32%40.3
St Peter's SchoolC−33%39.3
Sir Harry Smith Community CollegeC−28%38.6
Thomas Clarkson AcademyC−44%38.3
Neale-Wade AcademyD38%36.7

Who goes here

DfE school census, January 2025

689 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.

SEN support
17.3%England 14%
EHC plan
7.4%England 3.2%
English as an additional language
34.1%England 19%
Free school meals in the last 6 years
50.4%England 29.6%

Girls and boys

Girls 49%Boys 51%
Its letter

North Cambridge Academy’s letter

Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.

Secondary: Attainment 8 and grade 5+ English and maths B−Better than 50% of 3,224 schools
How school letters are worked out

Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.

A+ 95+A 85–94A− 75–84B+ 65–74B 55–64B− 45–54C+ 35–44C 25–34C− 15–24D 5–14D− 0–4

Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.

Ofsted

Ofsted inspections

Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.

Ungraded inspection: Standards maintained, February 2025.

The full reports on Ofsted ↗

Living nearby

Living near North Cambridge Academy

For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.

Home prices in CB4 2, the school’s postcode sector

Cambridge property prices →
£380,000
median sale, 340 sales in 36 months · Cambridge £484,602

Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025

£100K£200K£300K£400K£500K£600K2010201520202025CB4 2Cambridge
CB4 2Cambridge

By type, the 36 months to August 2026

Detached
£595K
Semi-detached
£518K
Terraced
£380K
Flat
£260K
CB4 2Cambridge

Homes in CB4 2 sell for well under Cambridge’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.

Schools within 1.6 miles

14 state schools
0.5 mi1 mi1.5 miNDBC+C−A−AB+A−C−A+AC+A−C−B−North Cambridge Academy
ABCDNo letterPrimarySecondary / all-through

Cambridge, CB4 2JF

North Cambridge Academy: common questions

Is North Cambridge Academy a good school?

By its published results, above average: its GCSE results are better than 50% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is B−), with an Attainment 8 of 48.6 and 40% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, February 2025.

How hard is it to get into North Cambridge Academy?

For September 2026, 68 families put North Cambridge Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 150 places were offered in all.

What is North Cambridge Academy’s Ofsted rating?

Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (February 2025).

How much do houses cost near North Cambridge Academy?

Homes in its postcode sector, CB4 2, sold for a median £380,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (340 sales).

Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.

A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Cambridge’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.