Moving secondary school

[Karenm1]

Hi,
I hope this is okay - ive posted this in the "Secondary schools" area but just looking for more responses if poss!

My son started secondary school year 7 last september 2025.

We chose a school out of catchment as our catchment school has a bad name. Its a small school with circa 400 pupils. It was rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2024 and has since become an academy. The new head started about 18 months ago and is making great changes and is very well spoke of.

Im concerned after seeing their 2025 results. 23% achieved a grade 5 or higher in maths and english as opposed to the national average of circa 44%. Im really worried by this.
My son is bright and i dont want to put him somehwere that is not meeting the standard. My son seems fine at this school, we havent had any complaints really and im worried that moving him may not be right. I dont think hes made lots of new friends but it was the same at his primary school.

Hes been placed in top set for maths and science.
We have another secondary school which is 10 mins the other side of town (a lot closer than his current rural one) which has excellent results. At the time of writing this I think they are full.

What shall i do as im having sleepless nights over this?

Remember that the students who took GCSEs in 2025 started secondary school in 2020. If the new head has been turning things around for 18m, that was probably when those students started year 11 and likely a bit too late. It's possible that if the school was previously struggling, some of the more engaged families moved their kids (or avoided sending them), meaning the school had a more challenging cohort. Things will likely be quite different for the current year 7's, who should get the benefit of the changes. If he is happy, has decent teachers and is in a set with others of similar ability, it sounds like he will do well.

If you are still feeling worried, you could apply to the other school. If they are full, your DS will probably get put on a waiting list. You can then decide later on if they ever offer you a place.

I read your post to mean that there is a catchment school that is out of the question, the school he currently attends with bad results and a third school 10 minutes the other side of town with good results. Is that right? If so, why did you pick his current school? What were the things you valued about it? I agree with pp that there is no harm in getting your son on the waiting list for the other school, then you can reevaluate if/when a space comes up.

You’re looking at the GCSE results and imagining that automatically becomes his outcome, but for a Year 7 that’s actually a really indirect signal.
From being inside a school day-to-day, what matters much more is the set he’s in and the specific teachers he gets. Being top set for maths and science this early usually means teachers already see him as a “reliable” student, and those students get more attention, earlier intervention and are entered for higher papers and that changes results a lot more than the school average. School averages are often dragged down by behaviour issues or disengaged pupils, not the kids sitting at the front in top set.
The bigger red flag I’d watch isn’t grades yet i will look for if it’s whether he starts dreading mornings or withdrawing socially. A child who is basically okay and settled in Year 7 often does better staying put than restarting the entire social hierarchy mid-secondary, especially if he already finds making friends slow.