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The Vale Academy

SecondaryAges 11–18AcademySixth form

Brigg, DN20 8AR · North Lincolnshire local authority

Brigg’s School Grade A− better than 85% of towns in England

Its letter
71%
of England’s secondaries have lower GCSE results
Getting in
114/114
first choices offered a place, 2026 (England: 84%)
How full
627 pupils
78% of its 806 places
Free school meals
25%
25 in 100 pupils eligible · outlined square = England’s schools (30)
The gist

What stands out about The Vale Academy

  • Its own letter, B+: GCSE results better than 71% of England’s secondary schools
  • 59% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 11 points above England’s schools
  • Ofsted: Good, April 2023 (shown, not graded)
  • Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (114 of 114)
  • Progress 8 of +0.45 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did better at GCSE than pupils nationally with the same results at 11
  • Homes in its postcode sector (DN20 8) sold for a median £188,000; Brigg’s is £187,000

Results

DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 126 pupils

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

Attainment 8 48.1

Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 60% of schools · North Lincolnshire avg 44.9

20304050607080England avg 47.3The Vale 48.1

Grade 5+ in English and maths 59%

A strong pass · higher than 79% of schools · North Lincolnshire avg 47%

0%20%40%60%80%100%England avg 47.3%The Vale 59%

Attainment 8, three years

The mark is England’s average that year

2023/24
51.1
2024/25
51.6
2025/26
48.1

Progress 8, 2023/24

−1 behind0 = national+1 ahead

+0.45: above 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 33 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools

Disadvantaged
38.5England 38.6
Not disadvantaged
51.5England 50.6
Grade 4 or above in English and maths75%
England’s schools 66% · North Lincolnshire 68% · 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 The Vale Academy?

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

114
families put it first for September 2026
120
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. Delta Academies Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through North Lincolnshire council’s coordinated admissions.

Demand for secondary schools nearby, September 2026

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

1.13 per place
89% got their first choice
1.01 per place
95% got their first choice
The Vale
0.95 per place
100% got their first choice
0.93 per place
100% got their first choice
0.92 per place
100% got their first choice
0.89 per place
100% got their first choice

Brigg and North Lincolnshire, side by side

2025/26

All 13 graded secondaries in North Lincolnshire. 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. Brigg’s schools are coloured by their letter.

35384144475010%20%30%40%50%Pupils eligible for free school meals →Attainment 8 →Sir John NelthorpeThe Vale
ABCDElsewhere in North LincolnshireThe Vale
Show as a table
SchoolLetterFree school mealsAttainment 8
Winterton Community AcademyA−30%50.4
Sir John Nelthorpe SchoolB+22%48.5
The Vale AcademyB+25%48.1
South Axholme AcademyB18%47.9
St Bede's Catholic Voluntary AcademyB29%47.8
Outwood Academy FoxhillsB33%45.1
Baysgarth SchoolC+29%44.7
The St Lawrence AcademyC+48%43.5
Outwood Academy BrumbyB−47%43.4
Melior Community AcademyC+48%42.4
Frederick Gough SchoolC29%42.2
The Axholme AcademyC27%40.1
Kirton AcademyD47%39.7

Who goes here

DfE school census, January 2025

680 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
8.8%England 14%
EHC plan
1.9%England 3.2%
English as an additional language
5.4%England 19%
Free school meals in the last 6 years
26.5%England 29.6%

Girls and boys

Girls 56%Boys 44%
Its letter

The Vale 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 71% 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: School remains Good, April 2023.

The full reports on Ofsted ↗

Living nearby

Living near The Vale Academy

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

Home prices in DN20 8, the school’s postcode sector

Brigg property prices →
£188,000
median sale, 321 sales in 36 months · Brigg £187,000

Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025

£100K£150K£200K£250K2010201520202025DN20 8Brigg
DN20 8Brigg

By type, the 36 months to August 2026

Detached
£280K
Semi-detached
£165K
Terraced
£134K
Flat
£87K
DN20 8Brigg

Homes in DN20 8 sell for about the same as Brigg’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

4 state schools
0.5 mi1 mi1.5 miNB−B+AAB+The Vale Academy
ABCDNo letterPrimarySecondary / all-through

Brigg, DN20 8AR

The Vale Academy: common questions

Is The Vale Academy a good school?

By its published results, above average: its GCSE results are better than 71% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is B+), with an Attainment 8 of 48.1 and 59% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, April 2023.

How hard is it to get into The Vale Academy?

For September 2026, 114 families put The Vale Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 120 places were offered in all.

What is The Vale Academy’s Ofsted rating?

Its latest inspection outcome is Good (April 2023).

How much do houses cost near The Vale Academy?

Homes in its postcode sector, DN20 8, sold for a median £188,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (321 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; Brigg’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.