Ringwood School Academy

Ringwood School Academy is a large secondary school with a sixth form and is the only school in Ringwood School Trust. Inspectors found a highly inclusive and ambitious school where pupils achieve well, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and where behaviour is excellent. Leadership, curriculum and teaching, inclusion and post-16 provision are particular strengths; safeguarding arrangements meet requirements and pupils say they feel safe and proud to attend. The school is not complacent. Attendance and personal development are the areas with clearer room to improve: overall attendance is broadly average and persistent absence has fallen, but too many vulnerable pupils are still absent often enough to affect their engagement. The recently revised personal development curriculum is not yet consistently embedded in key stage 4 and the sixth form. Leaders are urged to embed their attendance strategy more fully and continue strengthening the personal development curriculum so pupils' knowledge is consistently detailed and secure.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve highly positive outcomes, including vulnerable pupils and sixth-form students.
• The curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and well sequenced across all key stages.
• Teaching is consistently highly effective, with expert staff and strong professional learning.
• The school is extremely inclusive, with precise transition and effective support for vulnerable pupils.
• Leaders and trustees are ambitious, collaborative and have an accurate understanding of the school.
• Post-16 provision is ambitious and vibrant, preparing students well for later life.
• Pupils' behaviour is excellent; they are mature, considerate and self-motivated.
• Pupils benefit from an extensive enrichment and careers programme.
• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe.
• Staff wellbeing is a genuine priority and staff feel valued.

Areas for Improvement

• Too many vulnerable pupils still have high levels of absence, affecting their engagement with school life.
• The strategic approach to improving attendance needs to be carefully embedded so persistent absence reduces further.
• The recently revised personal development curriculum needs continued embedding so pupils' knowledge is consistently detailed and 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 Ringwood School Academy attended 92.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 21.4% 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, 9.1% of pupils at Ringwood School Academy 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 Ringwood School Academy had 17.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.5% 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, 13.2% of pupils at Ringwood School Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.5% 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 Ringwood School Academy received £7,809 and spent £7,738 for each of its 1,626 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,194,000 (£734 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 Ringwood · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

What is Ringwood School Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Ringwood School Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Ringwood School Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Ringwood School Academy was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Ringwood School Academy have?

Ringwood School Academy has 1,592 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ringwood School Academy cover?

Ringwood School Academy for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Ringwood School Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 50.8, and 54% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Ringwood School Academy?

Ringwood School Academy is at Parsonage Barn Lane, Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24 1SE.