Queen Elizabeth School

Queen Elizabeth School is a welcoming, diverse and calm school where pupils feel safe and behave well. Inspectors found strong pastoral care and a positive culture: pupils are polite and respectful, bullying is rare, lessons are rarely disrupted, and most pupils attend in line with national peers. Personal development, careers education and wider opportunities are strengths, and safeguarding standards are met. The sixth form, established since the previous inspection, is now seen as more secure in its current provision, with appropriate courses high expectations and targeted support.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe, cared for and a strong sense of belonging in a calm, welcoming school.
• Behaviour is a strength: pupils are polite, respectful and lessons are rarely disrupted.
• Bullying is rare, and staff address any unkindness quickly and effectively.
• Most pupils attend in line with national peers, and leaders act appropriately when attendance drops.
• Personal development is well sequenced and inclusive, with clubs, student parliament and wider opportunities.
• Careers education is a strength, with employer links, work experience and impartial guidance.
• Pastoral support and wellbeing provision are strong, including counselling and bespoke interventions.
• Post-16 provision is now more secure, with appropriate courses, high expectations and targeted support.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language are well supported to develop their language skills.
• Staff feel supported and valued, with workload and wellbeing considered.
• Safeguarding standards are met.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve broadly in line with disadvantaged pupils nationally.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement in key stages 3 and 4 is variable, and pupils from lower starting points do not make expected progress.
• Pupils with gaps in reading, writing and mathematics, often including those with SEND, do not consistently secure essential skills.
• GCSE English and maths outcomes are too low based on pupils' starting points.
• Teachers do not have a secure understanding of what pupils know and can do.
• Assessment is not used effectively during lessons or at key curriculum points to check learning.
• Teaching does not routinely address misconceptions or adapt for pupils needing extra help or extension.
• There is no coherent approach to building foundational reading, writing, communication, language and mathematics.
• Inclusion processes vary too much, and the school lacks robust methods to identify pupils struggling with learning.
• Some pupils with SEND and those known or previously known to social care do not achieve as well as they should.
• The impact of academic support and alternative provision is not evaluated sharply or rigorously enough.
• Leaders have not been quick enough to identify and address weaknesses in inclusion, teaching quality and achievement.
• Governors do not consistently hold leaders to account rigorously enough on inclusion and outcomes for vulnerable pupils.
• A minority of sixth-form students attend less well than they should.
• The first published post-16 outcomes were below national averages, although current provision is more secure.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Queen Elizabeth School attended 92.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 23.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 9.5% of pupils at Queen Elizabeth School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Queen Elizabeth School had 15.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 14.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 14.4% of pupils at Queen Elizabeth School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Queen Elizabeth School received £9,107 and spent £8,527 for each of its 1,232 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,134,000 (£920 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Luton · Luton local authority: places and applications

What is Queen Elizabeth School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Queen Elizabeth School is Needs attention, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Queen Elizabeth School last inspected by Ofsted?

Queen Elizabeth School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Queen Elizabeth School have?

Queen Elizabeth School has 1,229 pupils on roll.

What age range does Queen Elizabeth School cover?

Queen Elizabeth School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Queen Elizabeth School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 42.5, and 35% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Queen Elizabeth School?

Queen Elizabeth School is at Crawley Green Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 9AG.