Wadham School

Wadham School is a secondary comprehensive and Church of England school for pupils aged 11 to 18. It has high expectations and an ambitious ethos, and pupils generally benefit from a broad curriculum, calm lessons, good personal development and strong careers education. The school has navigated significant change, including conversion to secondary provision and a new headteacher, and staffing has now stabilised with high staff morale. Quality of education and sixth-form provision require improvement. Teaching quality varies too much across classes and subjects, and some pupils, including sixth-form students, do not build knowledge securely or achieve as well as they could. Attendance remains too low, including in the sixth form, and a significant number of pupils are persistently absent. Sixth-form students also report a weaker sense of belonging and concerns about the quality of provision. The school is well led overall, with effective safeguarding and good behaviour and personal development. SEND support is a notable strength, and pupils have access to a wide range of enrichment and careers opportunities. However, leaders do not evaluate the impact of improvement initiatives precisely enough, reading catch-up work is still in its early stages, and some curriculum areas, such as English, need further development.

Strengths

• High expectations and an ambitious ethos for pupils
• Broad and interesting curriculum, including two modern foreign languages in Year 7
• Strong support for pupils with SEND, including quick identification of unmet needs
• Thoughtful curriculum planning in subjects such as mathematics and geography
• Clear behaviour expectations implemented consistently, with calm lessons and little low-level disruption
• Comprehensive personal development and enrichment programme, including activities week and pupil-led newspaper
• Strong careers education with local college and employer links, plus personalised sixth-form advice
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• High staff morale, good support for early career teachers and efforts to reduce workload

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching quality varies too much across classes and subjects, including in the sixth form
• Some pupils do not build knowledge successfully over time or achieve as well as they should
• The English curriculum needs further work to be ambitious and logically sequenced
• Teachers do not always use recall activities well to address misconceptions or plan next steps
• Attendance is too low, including in the sixth form, and persistent absence is high
• Sixth-form students lack a strong sense of belonging and have concerns about provision quality
• Sixth-form students have gaps in knowledge, partly linked to staff absence
• Leaders do not evaluate the impact of new initiatives precisely enough
• Reading catch-up and fluency work is still in its early stages

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 Wadham School attended 90.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.9% 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, 8.1% of pupils at Wadham School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was 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 Wadham School had 16.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.7% 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, 11.3% of pupils at Wadham School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has a SEN unit with 4 pupils.

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 Wadham School received £8,699 and spent £8,927 for each of its 763 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £1,450,000 (-£1,900 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 Crewkerne · Somerset local authority: places and applications

What is Wadham School's Ofsted rating?

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

When was Wadham School last inspected by Ofsted?

Wadham School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Wadham School have?

Wadham School has 763 pupils on roll.

What age range does Wadham School cover?

Wadham School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Wadham School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 41.7, and 37% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Wadham School?

Wadham School is at Yeovil Road, Crewkerne, Somerset, TA18 7NT.