Downham Market Academy
Downham Market, PE38 9LL · Norfolk local authority
Downham Market’s School Grade C+ better than 37% of towns in England
What stands out about Downham Market Academy
- Its own letter, C−: GCSE results better than 24% of England’s secondary schools
- 33% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 14 points below England’s schools
- Ofsted: Good, April 2022 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (175 of 175)
- Progress 8 of -0.06 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 (PE38 9) sold for a median £260,000; Downham Market’s is £257,000
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 237 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Downham Market beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 42.5
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 31% of schools · Norfolk avg 44.9
Grade 5+ in English and maths 33%
A strong pass · higher than 19% of schools · Norfolk avg 42%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
-0.06: 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 71 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
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.
How hard is it to get a place at Downham Market Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2022 (11), 2023 (50), 2024 (59), 2025 (28). 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. Eastern Learning Alliance sets the admissions rules. Apply through Norfolk council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Downham Market and Norfolk, side by side
2025/26All 52 graded secondaries in Norfolk. 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. Downham Market’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notre Dame High School, Norwich | A | 14% | 57 |
| Wymondham College | A | 10% | 56.7 |
| Hethersett Academy | A | 14% | 55.5 |
| Wymondham High Academy | A− | 19% | 52.9 |
| Jane Austen College | A− | 28% | 52.2 |
| Wayland Academy | A− | 28% | 50.2 |
| Broadland High Ormiston Academy | B+ | 21% | 49.3 |
| Reepham High School and College | B+ | 22% | 49.2 |
| City of Norwich School, An Ormiston Academy | B+ | 28% | 49.2 |
| Aylsham High School | B+ | 20% | 48.6 |
| Long Stratton High School | B+ | 20% | 48.5 |
| Caister Academy | B− | 39% | 47.9 |
| Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form | B | 17% | 47.9 |
| Cromer Academy | B | 26% | 47.7 |
| Framingham Earl High School | B− | 15% | 47.3 |
| Taverham High School | B− | 15% | 46.4 |
| Hobart High School | B− | 25% | 46.3 |
| Springwood High School | B− | 18% | 46.2 |
| Hewett Academy | B | 33% | 46.1 |
| The Harleston Sancroft Academy (a 3-16 Church of England School) | C+ | 24% | 45.9 |
| Sprowston Community Academy | B | 22% | 45.8 |
| Ormiston Venture Academy | B− | 40% | 45.7 |
| Flegg High Ormiston Academy | B− | 26% | 45.7 |
| Old Buckenham High School | C+ | 26% | 45.2 |
| The Thetford Academy | B− | 32% | 44.9 |
| Sheringham High School | C | 26% | 44.6 |
| Acle Academy | C+ | 28% | 44.5 |
| Litcham School | C | 20% | 44.1 |
| North Walsham High School | C | 33% | 44.1 |
| The Nicholas Hamond Academy | C | 29% | 43.7 |
| St Clement's High School | C | 28% | 43.6 |
| Marshland High School | C+ | 28% | 43.3 |
| Dereham Neatherd High School | C+ | 22% | 43.1 |
| Diss High School | C | 25% | 43 |
| Attleborough Academy | C | 21% | 42.8 |
| Ormiston Victory Academy | C | 27% | 42.6 |
| Downham Market Academy | C− | 27% | 42.5 |
| Hellesdon High School | C | 27% | 42 |
| Lynn Grove Academy | C− | 34% | 41.8 |
| Great Yarmouth Charter Academy | C | 56% | 41.8 |
| Fakenham Academy | C− | 26% | 41.4 |
| Smithdon High School | C | 27% | 41.3 |
| King Edward VII Academy | C | 27% | 41.1 |
| King's Lynn Academy | C | 32% | 41 |
| Northgate High School | C− | 28% | 40.6 |
| Stalham High School | C | 37% | 40.5 |
| Alderman Peel High School | D | 26% | 39.6 |
| Sewell Park Academy | D | 44% | 37.6 |
| Iceni Secondary Academy | D | 23% | 37.3 |
| Cliff Park Ormiston Academy | D | 45% | 36.8 |
| City Academy Norwich | D | 57% | 36.2 |
| The Open Academy | D− | 40% | 33.1 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 20251,333 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.
Girls and boys
Downham Market Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
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.
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 inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection: Good, April 2022.
Living near Downham Market Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in PE38 9, the school’s postcode sector
Downham Market property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in PE38 9 sell for about the same as Downham Market’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 schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Downham Market, PE38 9LL
Downham Market Academy: common questions
Is Downham Market Academy a good school?
By its published results, below average: its GCSE results are better than 24% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is C−), with an Attainment 8 of 42.5 and 33% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, April 2022.
How hard is it to get into Downham Market Academy?
For September 2026, 175 families put Downham Market Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 193 places were offered in all.
What is Downham Market Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Good (April 2022).
How much do houses cost near Downham Market Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, PE38 9, sold for a median £260,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (618 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; Downham Market’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.