Withernsea High School Review 2026: a coastal community secondary on Hull Road

On Hull Road in Withernsea, Withernsea High School sits on a site that benefited from the Priority School Building Programme, including a £13 million rebuild and refurbishment. That matters in a practical way: this is a school designed for day-to-day learning and movement, not a collection of cramped add-ons.

It is a state secondary school for boys and girls aged 11 to 16 in Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire. There is no sixth form, so students make a clear post-16 transition at the end of Year 11. The published capacity is 1157, which signals a large secondary by local standards, even if the lived experience will depend on current roll and how year groups are organised.

The most recent Ofsted inspection graded the school Requires Improvement for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

The school’s stated values are plain-spoken and easy to hold onto: respect, responsibility, ambition and kindness. In a secondary setting, that kind of clarity can be more useful than a longer list of slogans, because it gives staff and students a shared shorthand when things go well and when they do not.

A community school with visible student voice

One distinctive feature is the Board for Change, a pupil ambassador group designed to represent students’ views and help shape school life. For families, that signals an ethos that wants students to practise influence responsibly, rather than simply comply. It also fits the wider picture of personal development work that aims to prepare students for life beyond the timetable.

There is plenty here that feels steady. Pupils are described as happy and safe, with positive relationships with staff. Bullying is not presented as a dominant concern. The more complex part of the picture is how consistently expectations land. Behaviour in lessons can be calm, but learning is sometimes disrupted by others, and rules are not always followed around school in a way that staff address consistently. Some unkind comments are tolerated too readily by peers, and that is the kind of low-level culture issue that families often want to probe carefully on a visit.

Here is the headline, without sugar-coating it. Ranked 3324th in England and 1st in Withernsea for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), Withernsea High sits below England average overall.

GCSE results

The Attainment 8 score is 36.6, and the Progress 8 score is -0.38. In plain terms, that Progress 8 figure indicates students made less progress than other pupils nationally with similar starting points. EBacc performance is also a weak spot in the available data: 7.8% achieved grade 5 or above in the EBacc measure, and the school’s EBacc average point score is 3.24.

For parents using FindMySchool, this is a good moment to lean on the Local Hub comparison tools: the numbers are most meaningful when you compare them with a shortlist of realistic alternatives, then pair that with what you learn about behaviour, support, and subject options.

A concrete strength is that an ambitious, logically sequenced curriculum is in place. Design and technology is a good example: students build skills through staged projects and use computer aided design as they progress to more complex tasks. In subjects where teaching consistently helps students connect new knowledge to what they already know, recall is stronger.

Reading, memory, and consistency

The challenge is not the curriculum intent but the day-to-day consistency of teaching that helps learning stick. Some students struggle to transfer learning into long-term memory, and the weakest readers do not always get support early enough or effectively enough. In a secondary school, that matters across the board: reading is the gateway to science, humanities, and exam questions, not just English lessons.

Support for students with special educational needs and disabilities is another area where consistency is central. Needs are identified well, and students are included in school life, with effective support in the enhanced resource provision. However, classroom adaptation is uneven, and when work is pitched too low, it caps progress and confidence at the same time.

With no sixth form, the “next step” conversation arrives earlier and more sharply. Careers education is described as effective, and the school’s approach has the feel of something built over time rather than bolted on in Year 11.

Post-16 routes

The school hosts careers activity that puts students in direct contact with colleges, training providers, employers and public services. Events such as a careers evening and futures fair, plus networking-style sessions for younger year groups, help normalise the idea that post-16 routes include further education, apprenticeships and employment pathways, not only sixth form.

For families, the practical implication is that it is worth asking two questions early. First, how the school helps students choose between local sixth forms and further education colleges. Second, how it supports students whose motivation improves when learning feels connected to real work and real choices.

Withernsea High is a non-selective community school, with admissions coordinated through East Riding of Yorkshire.

Routes and criteria

Demand is real rather than frantic: 166 applications for 141 offers works out at about 1.18 applications per place. That is oversubscribed, but it is not the kind of ratio that makes admission feel like a lottery. The detail that matters most is the oversubscription criteria used when applications exceed places, especially how priority is set for looked-after children, siblings, catchment and distance.

Timeline and practicalities

The council-run timetable means autumn applications for Year 7 entry and offers released in early spring. The school also runs transition activity for Year 6, including an autumn open evening pattern and summer transition days, which can be reassuring for families who want a staged, structured move into secondary.

When you are deciding whether to apply, FindMySchool’s Map Search is a practical help: it lets you check your exact location against catchment and distance rules, and that is often where the real admissions story sits.

Pastoral systems matter most in a school where consistency is still being strengthened. The baseline is reassuring: students are described as feeling safe, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. That is the non-negotiable foundation for everything else.

Behaviour, belonging, and respect

The school’s next challenge is making expectations land the same way across classrooms and corridors. Some learning time is lost when disruption is not dealt with consistently, and the culture point about unkind or discriminatory comments is one families should take seriously. The positive is that adults do act when they hear inappropriate remarks, and students are taught about healthy relationships through personal development lessons. The question is how confidently students feel able to speak up, and how reliably staff responses reinforce the values the school sets out.

For some students, the biggest wellbeing lever is simply belonging. Structures like the Board for Change, coupled with a visible careers programme and enrichment, can give students reasons to invest in school beyond the next detention or the next test.

This is a school that puts real effort into the “after 3.10pm” part of student life, and it does so with attention to logistics, not just good intentions.

Clubs & enrichment

A practical example is transport: free minibus places are available for students staying for clubs and study sessions, with booking required and spaces limited. That widens access for families who cannot do repeated collections.

In terms of activities, the school’s extra-curricular timetable changes half-termly, and the named examples give a flavour of the offer. There is a design and technology craft club, and a running club that has become established enough to inspire an annual Santa Run. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme has also been relaunched, which suits students who do well when responsibility is broken into small, trackable commitments over time.

Sport and performance

Sport appears in both curriculum planning and in the broader life of the school. Meanwhile, performance is not an afterthought: school productions, including a full musical run, point to a creative strand that can be an important counterweight for students who need somewhere to shine beyond written work.

Transport & parking

Withernsea High is set up for bus travel. The school describes working with the local bus operator so that a service bus can enter the school drive for safer drop-off and collection, and it also reimburses 50% of a child’s bus ticket cost (subject to conditions, and subject to change). For after-school clubs and study sessions, there is a free minibus offer on weekday evenings, with limited, bookable spaces.

For families who drive, the school provides clear directions for approaches from Hull and surrounding towns. It also actively promotes more sustainable travel and has run an Active Travel Day aimed at reducing congestion around the school gates.

The school day

The school day begins at 8.40am and finishes at 3.10pm, organised into four periods with split lunchtimes for Years 7 and 8, and Years 9 to 11.

A results picture that needs lifting. The GCSE data and Progress 8 score point to a school where outcomes are not yet where families would want them. If you are considering Withernsea High, focus your questions on consistency of teaching, the support for weaker readers, and what subject leaders are doing to make learning stick over time.

Behaviour consistency and everyday culture. Students are described as safe and generally compliant in lessons, but disruption still eats into learning, and low-level unkind comments can be brushed off too easily by peers. Families should ask how staff ensure rules and routines are reinforced across corridors as well as classrooms.

Post-16 transition comes early. With no sixth form, you will want a clear plan for Year 11 pathways and a sense of how the school supports different routes, from further education courses to apprenticeships. The careers programme is a strength to lean on, but the best outcomes usually come when families engage early rather than waiting for Year 11.

Withernsea High School is a large, local, state secondary with a clear set of values, a visible student voice through the Board for Change, and a practical approach to enrichment that includes transport support. The most important work now is raising consistency: in teaching that secures learning over time, in literacy support for those who need it most, and in behaviour routines that protect learning for everyone.

Best suited to families in Withernsea and South East Holderness who want a community-based 11 to 16 school with structured personal development, strong careers engagement, and a school day that is straightforward to manage by bus. The key question to satisfy yourself on is how quickly classroom consistency and outcomes are improving.