St Peter's CofE Academy

St Peter’s CofE Academy is a secondary academy within the Woodard Academies Trust and Lichfield Diocesan Board of Education. Following a previous inspection that judged it to require improvement, this June 2025 graded inspection found the school to be good in all four key judgments: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils benefit from strong pastoral support, positive relationships and a strong sense of community, and they are polite and respectful. The curriculum is ambitious and broad, teaching is generally strong, reading is prioritised, and pupils with SEND are well supported. Behaviour is good overall, attendance has risen significantly, and personal development and careers provision are comprehensive. Trust and governors are closely involved and provide effective support and challenge. The main areas for improvement concern assessment and behaviour. In some lessons, teachers do not check pupils’ understanding sharply enough, so misconceptions and gaps can go unchecked and some pupils do not build secure knowledge as quickly as they could. A minority of pupils find the school’s raised behaviour expectations difficult to meet and are more likely to be suspended, so the school needs to sustain support and review for those pupils. Historical examination outcomes, including in 2024, are low compared with national averages, and the proportion of pupils completing the English Baccalaureate is low, although leaders have plans to address this and current pupils are achieving more positively. Overall, the school has improved markedly and provides a good quality of education in a caring and orderly environment. The priorities now are to make assessment checks consistently effective and to reduce suspensions further by supporting the small group of pupils who struggle most with behaviour expectations.

Strengths

• Strong pastoral support and positive relationships help pupils feel safe and valued
• Pupils are polite, respectful and benefit from a strong sense of community
• An ambitious, broad and coherent curriculum meets pupils’ aspirations
• Lessons are typically calm and orderly, with pupils showing positive attitudes
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and recap learning well
• Reading is a priority, with effective individualised support for pupils who need to catch up
• Pupils with SEND are accurately identified and teaching is adapted to meet their needs
• Behaviour expectations are clear and behaviour around the school is good
• Attendance has improved significantly through well-understood barriers and targeted initiatives
• Personal development is comprehensive, including clubs, pupil voice, wellbeing and careers
• Trust and governors provide effective support and challenge, and staff receive quality training
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• In some lessons, checks on pupils’ knowledge are not used effectively to identify and address misconceptions
• Where assessment checks are weaker, pupils develop gaps and do not secure new ideas as quickly
• A minority of pupils struggle to meet the school’s revised high behaviour expectations and are more likely to be suspended
• Historical public examination outcomes, including in 2024, are low compared with national averages
• The proportion of pupils completing the English Baccalaureate subjects is low, although plans are in place to increase it

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 St Peter's CofE Academy attended 91.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 24.5% 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, 18.4% of pupils at St Peter's CofE Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 6 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 St Peter's CofE Academy had 16.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 6.2% 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, 17.2% of pupils at St Peter's CofE Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.4% 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 St Peter's CofE Academy received £9,061 and spent £8,888 for each of its 1,053 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,012,000 (£961 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of Woodard Academies Trust, income was £7,873 and spending £7,857 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 Stoke-On-Trent · Stoke-on-Trent local authority: places and applications

St Peter's CofE Academy is part of Woodard Academies Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Polam Hall School Darlington
• Kings Priory School North Shields
• St Augustine Academy Maidstone
• The Littlehampton Academy Littlehampton
• The Sir Robert Woodard Academy Sompting

What is St Peter's CofE Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Peter's CofE Academy is Good, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was St Peter's CofE Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

St Peter's CofE Academy was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does St Peter's CofE Academy have?

St Peter's CofE Academy has 1,052 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Peter's CofE Academy cover?

St Peter's CofE Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are St Peter's CofE Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 34.2, and 22% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Peter's CofE Academy?

St Peter's CofE Academy is at Fenton Manor, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 2RR.