DfE 2024/25 Key Stage 4 data for Leeds, school by school, plus GCSE maths tuition from Leading Tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationLeading Tuition provides one-to-one GCSE maths tutoring for students across Leeds, from Alwoodley and Roundhay to Seacroft and Beeston. Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Meanwood recorded an Attainment 8 score of 58.0 in the 2024/25 GCSE results, with a maths-element score of 10.8; Leeds East Academy in Seacroft recorded 32.7 overall and 6.1 on maths, a 25.3-point gap between two schools inside the same local authority.
That gap, not Leeds's small difference from the national average, is what a family choosing GCSE maths tutoring in Leeds actually needs to know. This page sets out that gap in full, school by school, using the Department for Education's own published Key Stage 4 figures, then compares Leeds against the national average on the measures where the two move in different directions, and sets out exactly what GCSE maths grade the city's own sixth forms require.
Leeds City Council is one of England's largest local authorities by pupil numbers, covering affluent, leafy wards such as Alwoodley and Adel in the north, the semi-rural outer towns of Otley and Wetherby, and dense inner-city wards such as Beeston, Harehills and Seacroft — areas with very different school intakes and, as the figures below show, very different GCSE maths outcomes.
Leeds's 45.5 Attainment 8 average, drawn from 9,709 Key Stage 4 pupils in the 2024/25 results, is a blend of very different schools. At one end sit Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Meanwood and Roundhay School in Roundhay, both in north Leeds; at the other sits Leeds East Academy in Seacroft, in the east of the city.
| School (ward) | Attainment 8 | Maths element | Grade 5+ Eng & maths | Entering EBacc | EBacc APS | KS4 pupils |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School (Meanwood) | 58.0 | 10.8 | 73.1% | 44.0% | 5.13 | 175 |
| Roundhay School (Roundhay) | 55.1 | 10.8 | 66.8% | 68.8% | 5.15 | 304 |
| Leeds East Academy (Seacroft) | 32.7 | 6.1 | 21.5% | 16.0% | 2.69 | 219 |
Source: Department for Education, Compare School and College Performance, individual school records for Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School, Roundhay School and Leeds East Academy, 2024/25 academic year.
A fourth school confirms this is a cluster, not a single outlier: Allerton High School, also in north Leeds, posted an Attainment 8 score of 54.3 and a grade 5+ English-and-maths rate of 68.7% in the same results — in line with Cardinal Heenan and Roundhay, and far from Leeds East Academy's figures.
Line up the two ends of the table and the difference is stark. Cardinal Heenan's Attainment 8 score of 58.0 sits 25.3 points above Leeds East Academy's 32.7, and the maths-element scores that both schools' pupils actually sit in the exam hall for are 4.7 points apart — 10.8 against 6.1, on a scale where the Leeds and England averages both sit at 9.1. On the grade 5+ English-and-maths measure the two schools are 51.6 percentage points apart, 73.1% against 21.5%. For scale: that single-city, two-school gap is wider than the 44.6-point range DfE recorded nationally in 2025 between its best-performing local authority on this measure, Kingston upon Thames at 69.3%, and its worst, Knowsley at 24.7%.
Roundhay School matched Cardinal Heenan's maths-element score of 10.8 exactly, despite a noticeably different curriculum profile: Roundhay entered 68.8% of its 304 pupils for the full EBacc, against Cardinal Heenan's 44.0% from a smaller cohort of 175. A shared maths result, in other words, can sit inside two quite different overall patterns of entry — which is why the school-level figures in the table above matter more to a family than any single Leeds-wide average.
Both, depending on the measure. Leeds's Attainment 8 average across all 9,709 of its 2024/25 Key Stage 4 pupils was 45.5, against an England state-funded average of 46.1 drawn from 625,647 pupils — a difference of well under one point on an eight-subject composite score. But 46.5% of Leeds pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSEs, the Department's own headline threshold for a ‘strong pass’ in both subjects, against 45.4% across England's state-funded schools — narrowly ahead. On Attainment 8's maths element specifically, the double-weighted maths component of the eight-subject score, Leeds and England posted an identical average of 9.1.
| Measure (2024/25) | Leeds (local authority) | England (state-funded) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 45.5 | 46.1 |
| Attainment 8 – maths element | 9.1 | 9.1 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths GCSEs | 46.5% | 45.4% |
| Entering the full EBacc | 50.3% | 40.5% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.11 | 4.09 |
| Staying in education/training after KS4 (2023 leavers) | 89% | 92% |
Source: Department for Education, Compare School and College Performance, 2024/25 academic year (published April 2026), Leeds local authority and England state-funded school columns.
A city that trails narrowly on the composite score can still match or lead the country on the specific maths measures that matter to a family choosing a tutor. Attainment 8 combines a pupil's grades across eight qualifications: English and maths (each double-weighted if the relevant subjects are taken), three further EBacc subjects, and three other approved qualifications — which is exactly why the maths-element figures on this page move the overall score as much as they do.
Leeds's schools enter markedly more pupils for the English Baccalaureate combination — English, maths, a science, a language and history or geography — than the England average. 50.3% of Leeds's 2024/25 cohort were entered for the full EBacc, against 40.5% nationally, a 9.8-percentage-point lead. Because GCSE maths is one of the five compulsory EBacc subjects, that gap says something specific: more Leeds pupils are being kept on a maths-and-sciences pathway through to Year 11, rather than moved onto a narrower set of qualifications earlier.
The EBacc Average Point Score, which credits every pupil's grade across all five pillars rather than just those completing the full set, tells a closer story: Leeds averaged 4.11 against England's 4.09. And 89% of Leeds's 2023 KS4 leavers were still in education, an apprenticeship or employment two terms later — three points behind the 92% England figure, the one measure here where Leeds trails by more than a rounding error.
One measure will not appear on this page: Progress 8. DfE states plainly that it cannot be calculated for the 2024/25 or 2025/26 academic years, for Leeds or any other local authority, because these cohorts sat no Key Stage 2 tests after primary assessments were disrupted by the same Covid-19 emergency that cancelled GCSE exams outright in 2019/20 and 2020/21. The previous government confirmed in April 2024 that neither year would get a replacement measure. That is a national gap in the data, not a Leeds one, which is why this page compares schools on Attainment 8 and the grade 5+ measure instead.
The grade boundary that decides what happens next is not an abstraction for a Leeds family — it is written into the entry requirements of the city's own sixth forms. Leeds Sixth Form College, part of the Luminate Education Group and based at Park Lane, sets a general entry requirement of five GCSEs including English and maths at grade 9-4 for its A-level programmes. A-level Mathematics itself demands more: a GCSE grade 9-6 in maths, rising to a 9-7 for A-level Further Mathematics — two to three grades above the college's own general entry bar.
Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College sets a comparable general threshold for courses starting in September 2026: five GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including English Language and Maths, for its A-level, Mixed Programme and Level 3 BTEC and CTEC courses. A student at a Leeds school where the maths-element Attainment 8 average is 6.1, such as Leeds East Academy, is working from a materially different starting point for these thresholds than one at a school averaging 10.8, such as Cardinal Heenan or Roundhay.
None of this spread is fixed by postcode. A pupil at a school averaging 6.1 on the maths element of Attainment 8 is not destined to stay there, and a pupil at a school averaging 10.8 still needs the specific grade their sixth form of choice asks for — a 9-6 for A-level Maths at Leeds Sixth Form College is a high bar wherever a student's GCSE maths lessons happen to take place. Our GCSE maths tutors work with students at schools across the city, from Alwoodley and Roundhay to Seacroft, Middleton and Beeston, building a programme around the exam board and tier — foundation or higher — a student's own school has actually entered them for.
The tier decision matters more than most families realise. A student entered for the foundation tier GCSE maths paper can reach no higher than a grade 5, whatever they do in the exam — the paper itself does not carry the questions needed for a 6, 7, 8 or 9. A student entered for higher tier can reach a 9, but risks a grade below 4 if the questions are pitched too far above their current level, because higher tier's lowest available grade sits below foundation's ceiling. That decision is usually made by a school during Year 10 or early Year 11, and it is often made on the basis of mock results rather than a student's genuine ceiling — which is exactly the kind of school-level decision the Attainment 8 figures above cannot show a family from outside.
That means diagnosing, early, whether a student is working towards a grade 4, a grade 5, or the grade 6 or 7 a specific A-level subject will ask for later, and building lessons around the gap between where a student sits now and that threshold, rather than a generic scheme of work. Families with a younger child also facing 13+ entry can see our 13+ tuition in Leeds page. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.
Not sure where your child's school sits? A short call is enough for us to map a Leeds GCSE maths student's target grade against their actual school, exam board and tier, and recommend a plan. Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews, read on 22 August 2026.
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Both, depending on the measure. In the 2024/25 GCSE results, Leeds's Attainment 8 score averaged 45.5 across its 9,709 Key Stage 4 pupils, against 46.1 for England's state-funded schools as a whole — a small gap on the composite score. But on the specific grade 5 or above in English and maths measure, 46.5% of Leeds pupils cleared the bar, against 45.4% nationally, putting Leeds narrowly ahead. On the maths element of Attainment 8 specifically, Leeds and England are level at 9.1 each.
Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Meanwood recorded the highest Attainment 8 score among the Leeds schools compared on this page, 58.0 in 2024/25, with a maths-element score of 10.8 and 73.1% of its 175 pupils reaching grade 5 or above in English and maths combined. Roundhay School matched Cardinal Heenan's 10.8 maths-element score with an overall Attainment 8 of 55.1, and Allerton High School posted a similar 54.3, suggesting a genuine cluster of strong maths results across north Leeds rather than a single outlier school.
Leeds East Academy in Seacroft recorded an Attainment 8 maths-element score of 6.1 in 2024/25 — 4.7 points below Cardinal Heenan and Roundhay's 10.8 — and only 21.5% of its 219 pupils achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths combined, against the Leeds local authority average of 46.5%. Its overall Attainment 8 score, 32.7, is 25.3 points below Cardinal Heenan's 58.0, entirely within one local authority of 9,709 pupils.
Leeds Sixth Form College's published entry requirement for A-level Mathematics is a GCSE grade 9-6 in maths, rising to a 9-7 for A-level Further Mathematics. Its general entry requirement for other A-level subjects is five GCSEs including English and maths at grade 9-4. Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, for courses starting in September 2026, requires five GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English Language and Maths for its A-level and Level 3 programmes.
The Department for Education states that it is not possible to calculate Progress 8 for the 2024/25 or 2025/26 academic years, for Leeds or anywhere else in England, because the pupils in these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 assessment data to use as a baseline after primary tests were cancelled during the Covid-19 disruption of 2019/20 and 2020/21. The previous government confirmed in April 2024 that there would be no replacement measure for these two years. Attainment 8 and the grade 5+ English-and-maths measure are the figures to use instead.
Comparing named Leeds secondary schools on 2024/25 DfE data, the gap on the maths element of Attainment 8 runs from Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School's 10.8 down to Leeds East Academy's 6.1 — a 4.7-point difference on a scale where the Leeds and England averages both sit at 9.1. On the wider grade 5+ English-and-maths measure, the two schools are 51.6 percentage points apart, 73.1% against 21.5% — a bigger spread than the 44.6-point gap DfE recorded nationally in 2025 between its best-performing local authority, Kingston upon Thames at 69.3%, and its worst, Knowsley at 24.7%.
Leading Tuition works with GCSE maths students at schools across Leeds, from Alwoodley and Roundhay in the north to Seacroft, Middleton and Beeston, whatever grade a student's own school currently averages. Our tutors build a programme around the specific exam board and tier — foundation or higher — that a student's school has entered them for, targeting the grade 4, 5, 6 or 7 threshold that matters for their next step, whether that is a Leeds sixth form's own entry requirement or a broader set of GCSE options. We are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews.
GCSE maths is examined at two tiers. Foundation tier covers grades 1 to 5, and a student sitting it cannot be awarded a 6, 7, 8 or 9, whatever they score. Higher tier covers grades 4 to 9, but its lowest available grade, 4, sits below foundation's top grade of 5, so a student entered for higher tier who underperforms can end up with no grade at all if they fall short of a 4. Schools usually decide which tier a student sits during Year 10 or early Year 11, often based on mock exam results rather than a full assessment of a student's ceiling.
Whether your child's school clusters with Cardinal Heenan and Roundhay near the top of Leeds's GCSE maths results, or needs to close a bigger gap, we can build a programme around their actual exam board, tier and target grade.
Leading Tuition is rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. See also our GCSE maths tuition and our wider tutoring across Leeds.
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