Alderwood School

Alderwood School is an inclusive all-through community school where pupils are happy, behave well and feel part of a strong community. Inspectors found much to praise in the primary phase and early years, including a thoughtfully planned curriculum, strong subject knowledge, effective phonics and early identification of SEND, and pupils achieve particularly well. Pupils benefit from positive relationships, rare bullying, leadership opportunities and a well-linked personal development and careers programme, and safeguarding is effective. The main concern is the secondary phase. There, assessment and checks on understanding are less precise, gaps and misconceptions are not identified quickly enough, and pupils do not consistently remember learning over time. As a result, older pupils do not achieve well enough and are not yet sufficiently prepared for their next stages. Leaders have improved behaviour and attendance, but their work to tackle weaker achievement in the senior school has not been effective enough, and monitoring systems do not yet show whether improvement actions are having the intended impact. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it operates across infant, junior and senior sites. The report notes that the school has started to address the areas for development, but the work in the secondary phase is at an early stage and needs greater urgency.

Strengths

• Strong sense of an inclusive community across the school
• Pupils behave well and bullying is rare
• Positive and warm relationships between staff and pupils
• Pupils value leadership opportunities such as school council, prefects and buddies
• Thoughtfully planned curriculum builds from the early years upwards
• Staff subject knowledge is strong
• Primary pupils achieve particularly well and remember learning well
• Effective phonics programme supports pupils who are not fluent readers
• Older reading buddies provide effective support for struggling readers
• SEND needs are identified rapidly and provision is well matched
• Calm and purposeful learning environment, especially in the secondary phase
• Effective support for behaviour and attendance has led to marked improvements
• Personal, social, health and economic education links well with pastoral care and assemblies
• Effective careers programme supports pupils with future options
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment and checks on pupil understanding in the senior school are not precise enough
• Secondary staff do not identify gaps and subject-specific misconceptions quickly enough
• Pupils in the senior school are not consistently supported to remember learning over time
• Secondary pupils do not achieve well enough and are not yet sufficiently prepared for their next stages
• Leaders' work to improve achievement in the senior school has not been effective enough
• Leaders lack robust monitoring and evaluation systems to check the impact of secondary improvement work

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 Alderwood School attended 92.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 18.2% 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, 4.4% of pupils at Alderwood School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No 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 Alderwood School had 15.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.6% 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, 16.3% of pupils at Alderwood School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.7% 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 Alderwood School received £8,198 and spent £8,074 for each of its 1,471 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,029,000 (£700 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 Aldershot · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

What is Alderwood School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Alderwood School last inspected by Ofsted?

Alderwood School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Alderwood School have?

Alderwood School has 1,471 pupils on roll.

What age range does Alderwood School cover?

Alderwood School for pupils aged 4 to 16.

What are Alderwood School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 41.1, and 35% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

What are Alderwood School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 70% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Alderwood School?

Alderwood School is at Belle Vue Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU12 4RZ.