The Radcliffe School

The Radcliffe School is a welcoming and inclusive school where pupils are proud to attend, value its diversity and feel safe. Pastoral support is a notable strength, and pupils appreciate the help they receive with safeguarding, online safety and mental health. Behaviour is generally good: pupils understand expectations, lessons are usually orderly, and new behaviour and reward systems are seen by pupils as fair and effective. The school also has a specially resourced provision for pupils with social communication difficulties, including autism, known as The Base. However, the quality of education requires improvement because pupils have not achieved as well as they should in recent years. The school has taken decisive action, and in most subjects the curriculum is well sequenced with effective checks on pupils' knowledge. In some subjects, though, the curriculum is less developed and implementation is inconsistent, so tasks do not always match the curriculum's intent and some pupils do not apply prior knowledge securely. Support for pupils with SEND is improving and increasingly well targeted, but it is not consistently effective, with teaching sometimes not adapted well enough to meet identified needs. Leadership and management are good. Leaders, governors and staff recognise the need to raise outcomes and have strong shared priorities and effective actions in place. Sixth-form provision is also good: students are mature and thoughtful, careers advice is effective, and vocational achievement is stronger than academic achievement, where A-level work is not always demanding enough. Personal development is good, with a wide range of clubs and coordinated work on safety, respect and equality, although the impact of some sessions is not yet consistently strong. Safeguarding is effective. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and several senior leaders have taken up posts since the previous inspection.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and value the school's diverse community.
• A wide range of pastoral support helps pupils with safety and mental health.
• High expectations for behaviour are supported by fair and effective new systems.
• The curriculum is well sequenced in most subjects with systematic checks on knowledge.
• Effective reading support identifies and helps pupils who are not yet fluent.
• Pupils with SEND are well identified and support is increasingly well targeted.
• Sixth-form students are thoughtful, mature and articulate and feel a strong sense of community.
• The sixth-form offer matches students' needs and careers advice supports ambitious choices.
• A wide range of clubs and activities develops pupils' talents and interests.
• Leadership has strong shared priorities and is taking effective action to raise outcomes.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement because pupils have not achieved as well as they should.
• Curriculum implementation is inconsistent in some subjects and does not always match curriculum intent.
• Some pupils do not securely use and apply prior knowledge to new ideas.
• Support for pupils with SEND is not consistently effective, and teaching is not always adapted to their needs.
• A-level work is not demanding enough at times, so academic achievement is weaker than vocational achievement.
• The impact of some personal development sessions is not as strong as it could be.

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 The Radcliffe School attended 90.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 26.4% 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, 9.8% of pupils at The Radcliffe School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 The Radcliffe School had 16.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.4% 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, 23.9% of pupils at The Radcliffe School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.9% 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 The Radcliffe School received £9,050 and spent £9,016 for each of its 1,192 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £371,000 (£311 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).

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All schools in Milton Keynes · Milton Keynes local authority: places and applications

What is The Radcliffe School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for The Radcliffe School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was The Radcliffe School last inspected by Ofsted?

The Radcliffe School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does The Radcliffe School have?

The Radcliffe School has 1,192 pupils on roll.

What age range does The Radcliffe School cover?

The Radcliffe School for pupils aged 11 to 19.

What are The Radcliffe School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.3, and 36% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is The Radcliffe School?

The Radcliffe School is at Christchurch Grove, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK12 5BT.