Sir John Leman High School

Sir John Leman High School is a large secondary school in the Kingfisher Schools Trust. This full inspection found it meeting the expected standard across all evaluated areas, with safeguarding standards met. Since the last inspection, a new headteacher and senior leadership team have created a caring, ambitious culture. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage, behave well, and benefit from an inclusive and calm school environment. The school's strengths include effective support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, strong English outcomes, good attendance work, a broad curriculum, and a wide personal development and enrichment offer. Careers education and post-16 provision are notable, and leaders, governors and the trust work well together to drive improvement. Published A-level outcomes and value added have been below national averages recently, although teaching and curriculum changes are improving provision. The main areas for development are ensuring a consistent whole-school approach to writing and spelling, refining interventions whose impact is currently limited, and continuing to use performance analysis to improve post-16 outcomes. A small minority of pupils occasionally use unkind language, but overall behaviour is positive and pupils feel safe and valued.

Strengths

• Welcoming, inclusive culture where pupils feel valued and safe
• Calm and purposeful atmosphere with rare poor behaviour
• High expectations and strong pastoral support across the school
• Effective support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, who achieve well at GCSE
• Well-designed and ambitious curriculum across all year groups
• Strong careers education and preparation for life beyond school
• Broad and inclusive enrichment, trips, clubs and student leadership opportunities
• Post-16 provision is broad, inclusive and improving, with strengthened teaching
• Leaders, governors and trust work well together and have driven improvement
• Safeguarding standards are met, with pupils feeling safe and knowing how to get help
• Attendance is well supported and most pupils attend regularly
• Personal development programme prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain
• Staff feel valued and supported, with high-quality professional development

Areas for Improvement

• Writing and spelling support is not consistently developed across all subjects, sometimes hindering learning
• A whole-school approach to writing and spelling is not yet embedded across all key stages
• Some interventions have limited impact, and monitoring and evaluation has not given leaders enough insight to refine them
• Published A-level outcomes and value-added scores have been below national averages in recent years
• A small minority of pupils occasionally use unkind language and do not consistently show respect and tolerance
• Post-16 curriculum and teaching adaptations should continue to improve students' outcomes

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 Sir John Leman High School attended 91.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.6% 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 Sir John Leman High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 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 Sir John Leman High School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.4% 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, 8.5% of pupils at Sir John Leman High School 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 Sir John Leman High School received £7,407 and spent £6,923 for each of its 1,441 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £395,000 (£274 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Kingfisher Schools Trust, income was £7,914 and spending £8,139 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 Beccles · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Sir John Leman High School is part of Kingfisher Schools Trust, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Roman Hill Primary School Lowestoft
• Southtown Primary School Great Yarmouth
• Northgate Primary School Great Yarmouth
• Alde Valley Academy Leiston
• Snape Primary School Saxmundham
• Stowmarket High School Stowmarket

What is Sir John Leman High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Sir John Leman High School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Sir John Leman High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Sir John Leman High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Sir John Leman High School have?

Sir John Leman High School has 1,404 pupils on roll.

What age range does Sir John Leman High School cover?

Sir John Leman High School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Sir John Leman High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 46.7, and 50% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Sir John Leman High School?

Sir John Leman High School is at Ringsfield Road, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9PG.