Thomas Deacon Academy

Thomas Deacon Academy is a large all-through academy for pupils aged 7 to 19, including a sixth form, and is part of Thomas Deacon Education Trust. Inspectors found the school continues to perform well overall: pupils are welcomed into a diverse community, generally behave well, feel safe and benefit from an ambitious curriculum that runs from Year 3 through to Year 13. Most pupils achieve well and are prepared for their next stage of education or employment, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school's strengths include strong subject knowledge among teachers, good support for pupils with SEND, a clear priority on reading, and a rich personal development programme that includes character education, clubs, volunteering and careers advice. However, assessment practice is not consistently strong, so some tasks do not build well enough on pupils' prior learning and a few pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The number of suspensions, including repeat suspensions, remains high, and the school does not always evaluate their effectiveness or tailor reintegration support to individual needs, particularly for vulnerable pupils and those with SEND. Communication with parents also needs to be more robust so that all families can engage confidently with the school.

Strengths

• Welcoming, diverse culture where pupils respect differences and discuss viewpoints sensitively.
• Ambitious curriculum across all-through ages and the sixth form, building knowledge from Year 3 to Year 13.
• Teachers generally have strong subject knowledge and adapt teaching for pupils with SEND.
• Reading is prioritised, with early readers accurately identified and supported to become fluent.
• Pupils generally behave well, feel safe and lessons are calm with little disruption.
• Rich personal development and character programme, including clubs, volunteering and careers advice.
• Effective leadership and governance, with staff feeling well supported.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment practice is inconsistent; some teachers do not check understanding well enough, so tasks do not always build on prior learning.
• Some pupils do not achieve as well as they should because delivery does not always meet the school's high expectations.
• Suspensions, including repeat suspensions, remain high.
• The school does not thoroughly evaluate the effectiveness of suspensions or identify underlying academic or emotional causes.
• Reintegration support is not always tailored to individual needs, particularly for vulnerable pupils and those with SEND.
• Communication with parents is not robust enough; some families are unsure how to share their views.

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 Thomas Deacon Academy attended 90.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 27.3% 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, 12.2% of pupils at Thomas Deacon Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 5 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 Thomas Deacon Academy had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.9% 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, 9.8% of pupils at Thomas Deacon Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.1% 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 2024–25 Thomas Deacon Academy received £8,055 and spent £7,915 for each of its 2,311 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £4,080,000 (£1,766 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of Thomas Deacon Education Trust, income was £8,207 and spending £8,153 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Thomas Deacon Academy is part of Thomas Deacon Education Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Gladstone Primary Academy Peterborough
• Queen Katharine Academy Peterborough
• Welbourne Primary Academy Peterborough
• Upwood Primary Academy Huntingdon
• Warboys Primary Academy Huntingdon

What is Thomas Deacon Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Thomas Deacon Academy is Good, from an inspection in December 2024.

When was Thomas Deacon Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Thomas Deacon Academy was last inspected in December 2024.

How many pupils does Thomas Deacon Academy have?

Thomas Deacon Academy has 2,256 pupils on roll.

What age range does Thomas Deacon Academy cover?

Thomas Deacon Academy for pupils aged 7 to 19.

What are Thomas Deacon Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.4, and 37% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

What are Thomas Deacon Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Thomas Deacon Academy?

Thomas Deacon Academy is at Queen's Gardens, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 2UW.