Baysgarth School Review 2026: A structured 11–16 with a Sports Village at its heart

On Barrow Road in Barton-upon-Humber, the Baysgarth Sports Village is not a side project but part of the school’s everyday identity: a 3G football pitch, sports hall, gym, dance studio and multi-use games area that shape how much of the week can happen on-site.

Baysgarth is a state secondary school for boys and girls aged 11 to 16 in Barton-upon-Humber, South Yorkshire. With a published capacity of 900, it is a substantial local secondary, large enough to run clear routines and a broad timetable, while still keeping year-group systems tight. The most recent Ofsted inspection rated the school Good.

There is no sixth form, so the story here is about how well the school prepares students for strong Year 11 outcomes and confident choices at 16, rather than keeping them through to A-level.

At 2.30pm each day, the timetable deliberately shifts gears into Collective Reading. That small scheduling decision says a lot: Baysgarth wants literacy to be visible, shared, and treated as a school-wide habit rather than something confined to English lessons.

The tone is built around consistency. Staff work from a shared learning model, and students move through lessons with the expectation that routines will be familiar from subject to subject. The school’s stated values, Respect, Resilience and Responsibility, are simple enough to be used in everyday conversations about behaviour and effort, which is usually the point of values in the first place.

Pastoral identity is reinforced through a house system with five houses (Blenheim, Halifax, Lancaster, Stirling and Wellington). For many students, that becomes the social glue: a way to be known beyond the classroom, and a framework for rewards and competitions that does not rely solely on academic confidence.

GCSE results

Start with the two headline measures. The Attainment 8 score is 42.6, and Progress 8 is -0.23, which indicates that, overall, students make slightly below-average progress from their starting points compared with pupils nationally with similar prior attainment.

Rankings put that in clearer context. Ranked 3,133rd in England and 1st in Barton-upon-Humber for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), the school sits below England average on this measure, within the lower 40% of schools in England. That does not automatically mean classrooms feel low-ambition, but it does mean families should read the results as a reminder that outcomes are not uniformly strong across cohorts and subjects.

The EBacc picture is a weaker strand in the data: the EBacc average point score is 3.3 (England average: 4.08), and 1.7% of pupils achieved grades 5 or above across the full EBacc. If EBacc breadth matters to your family, it is worth asking how many students are entered, which subjects are prioritised, and how that aligns with your child’s strengths.

For context across nearby schools, the FindMySchool comparison tool is useful here, not as a verdict but as a way to see whether this profile is typical for your local area or an outlier.

The Baysgarth learning model

Baysgarth puts weight on shared classroom habits. Teaching follows a common model across subjects, which matters most for students who like predictability: expectations feel clearer when lesson structure is familiar, and that can reduce low-level anxiety about what a teacher wants on any given day.

Literacy and oracy are treated as whole-school priorities, with explicit teaching built into the week rather than left to chance. The rhythm of the day also includes Inspire Time, a planned slot used for personal development and wider experiences (including pathways such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award). For families, the practical implication is that enrichment is timetabled, not purely optional or dependent on a student pushing themselves forward after school.

Curriculum structure has a distinctive feature in Year 9, where a Gateway curriculum begins to steer students towards Key Stage 4 pathways. That can help students who benefit from earlier focus; it also places pressure on the quality of guidance and how clearly Key Stage 3 learning connects to what comes next.

With school finishing at 16, the destination question is immediate: sixth form, college, apprenticeships, or employment with training. What matters is not a glossy list of options, but whether students get timely, realistic guidance and multiple chances to explore routes before choices harden in Year 11.

Careers education is structured, with an employability mentor in the staffing team and planned encounters with further education and training providers. This is where the school’s organisation can be an advantage: when careers is calendared, students who are not naturally proactive still get pulled into the conversation about next steps.

For students who need extra support, the school’s specialist strands and pastoral layers should make transition planning less ad hoc. Ask how Year 11 support is tailored for different routes, particularly for students aiming for vocational courses or apprenticeships, where application windows and interview preparation can look very different from a sixth form pathway.

Routes and criteria

Admissions are coordinated by North Lincolnshire, with secondary applications typically submitted by 31 October for the following September entry. Baysgarth is oversubscribed in the available data, though not at the feverish levels seen in some urban secondaries: there were 237 applications for 202 offers, which is about 1.17 applications per place.

Oversubscription criteria follow a clear hierarchy: looked-after and previously looked-after children first, then children living in the designated catchment area, then siblings, then distance as the deciding factor. For families, the implication is plain. Catchment matters, and distance still matters once higher-priority groups have been placed.

To make those conversations concrete, families can use FindMySchool Map Search to sense-check travel distances and understand how your address sits relative to the local picture, even when the admissions boundary lines feel abstract.

Timeline and practicalities

In-year applications are handled differently from the main Year 7 round. The process asks for school reports and behaviour and attendance information, alongside a meeting with senior staff. That tends to work best for families who prepare early and keep paperwork tidy, rather than assuming a move can be done on a handshake.

Safeguarding is organised around named leadership: the designated safeguarding leads are Mr Andrew North and Miss Katie Smith, supported by deputy safeguarding leads. That clarity matters, especially in larger schools, because it reduces the risk of concerns being passed around without ownership.

Wellbeing support includes access to With Me in Mind, a school-linked mental health service. The best use of a service like this is early, before low mood or anxiety becomes entrenched; families considering Baysgarth should ask how students are identified, how referrals work, and what day-to-day adjustments can be made in school while support is put in place.

SEND support is also visible in the school’s structure. Alongside classroom strategies, there is a dedicated alternative space (Headway) used for a small number of students who need something more tailored than mainstream lessons can provide all day. The key question for parents is fit: what needs Headway is designed for, and what it is not.

STEM

The school’s Greenpower involvement is a useful marker of what enrichment can look like when it has a real project at its centre. In 2024, the Baysgarth Greenpower team competed at the Greenpower Education Trust International Finals at Goodwood, completing 14 laps and finishing 16th in their category. That sort of activity rewards persistence, teamwork, and iterative problem-solving, and it gives practical students a different way to shine.

Clubs & enrichment

Clubs run in the after-school window, and the range is not just sport. Examples include Lego Club, Baysgarth Choir, Music Club, Young Fashion Designers, Polish Language and Culture Club, an MFL Blooket Club, and Student Council. The point is choice: students can find something that feels like theirs, whether they want performance, creativity, leadership, or low-pressure social time with structure around it.

Sport has a physical home base in the Sports Village, and that matters for participation. When facilities are on-site, lunchtime and after-school activity becomes easier to sustain, especially for students who rely on buses and need clubs to run to a predictable schedule.

The school day starts at 8.30am and finishes at 2.50pm on most days, with clubs running from 2.50pm to 3.50pm. On Fridays, the school day ends at 2.30pm. The week includes a set Collective Reading slot from 2.30pm to 2.50pm each day.

Transport is shaped around school buses serving surrounding villages (including routes via places such as Goxhill, New Holland, Barrow, South Killingholme, East Halton and Wootton), with late buses supporting after-school participation. For those driving, on-site parking is limited; many families rely on roadside parking nearby.

Results profile: With Progress 8 at -0.23 and an Attainment 8 score of 42.6, outcomes are not consistently above England average. For families with a child who needs a strong academic push to thrive, it is worth asking which departments are strongest and how the school targets support in Key Stage 4.

EBacc breadth: The EBacc data is a weaker strand, with an EBacc average point score of 3.3 and 1.7% achieving grades 5 or above across the full EBacc. If you want an EBacc-heavy pathway, ask early how the school approaches entries and subject choices.

A long day for some students: Clubs and enrichment are part of the offer, but they can extend the day well beyond lessons. For bus-dependent students, the practical question is whether late buses align with the activities they want, and how often they would realistically stay.

A school built on routines: The shared learning model and clear structures suit students who like predictability and a steady rhythm. Students who need frequent novelty or who resist standardised approaches may need more careful settling-in.

Baysgarth School is a structured, non-selective 11–16 with a clear emphasis on routines, literacy habits, and accessible enrichment, backed by facilities that make after-school life easier to run. It is best suited to families who want a straightforward, organised local secondary and a student who benefits from consistency and clear expectations.

Competition for places is the limiting factor rather than the application form itself. If Baysgarth is your preferred option, treat catchment and logistics as part of the decision, not an afterthought.