Cleeve School

Cleeve School is a large 11–18 academy in a single-academy trust, and this was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspectors found a school with high expectations, an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum, and positive relationships between staff and pupils. Most pupils, including many with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils, achieve well. Behaviour is generally good, attendance is strong and improving, suspensions are reducing, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Pupils benefit from an exceptionally broad personal-development offer and very strong sixth-form provision, with students achieving exceptionally well and moving on to ambitious next steps. The main area for improvement is consistency. The school has strengthened how it identifies and shares information about pupils with SEND, and it has sensible systems for teaching and behaviour, but these are not always applied consistently in classrooms. As a result, a small minority of pupils, including some with SEND, do not learn or retain new knowledge as well as they could, and confidence in the behaviour policy is mixed among some pupils. Leaders, trustees and staff are described as ambitious and improvement-focused, with strong staff development and useful accountability processes; the next step is to embed the school’s agreed approaches more consistently so that all pupils reach their potential.

Strengths

• High expectations and an aspirational culture for pupils
• Ambitious, broad and carefully sequenced curriculum
• Positive staff-pupil relationships and purposeful lessons
• Pupils behave well and contribute to a friendly atmosphere
• Strong outcomes at key stage 4 and in the sixth form
• Exceptionally strong sixth-form provision with broad, tailored qualifications
• Outstanding personal development with a very broad extra-curricular offer
• Careers advice sequenced from Year 7 and effective preparation for next steps
• Effective safeguarding arrangements and a positive safeguarding culture
• Strong attendance that is improving, with reducing suspensions
• Sharpened SEND identification and information-sharing processes
• Prioritised reading, including the Cleeve Canon and focused reading support
• Distributed leadership, significant staff development and ambitious trustees

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent application of teaching and curriculum policies across classes
• SEND processes are not consistently applied in classrooms, so some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should
• Behaviour policy application varies, leaving some pupils' confidence in it mixed
• A small minority of pupils do not learn or retain new knowledge as well as their peers

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 Cleeve School attended 92.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 20.9% 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, 5.7% of pupils at Cleeve School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 4 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 Cleeve School had 18.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.2% 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, 12.1% of pupils at Cleeve 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 2024–25 Cleeve School received £6,946 and spent £6,610 for each of its 1,849 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,277,000 (£691 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.

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What is Cleeve School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Cleeve School is Good, from an inspection in February 2025.

When was Cleeve School last inspected by Ofsted?

Cleeve School was last inspected in February 2025.

How many pupils does Cleeve School have?

Cleeve School has 1,903 pupils on roll.

What age range does Cleeve School cover?

Cleeve School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Cleeve School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 49.4, and 54% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Cleeve School?

Cleeve School is at Two Hedges Road, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 8AE.