Bedminster Down School

Bedminster Down School is a secondary comprehensive academy within the Futura Learning Partnership. This graded inspection found the quality of education and personal development to be good, while behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management require improvement. Current pupils receive a good quality of education and are well prepared for their next steps, although historic published outcomes remain below expectations. Safeguarding is effective. Pupils generally feel safe and happy, develop positive relationships with staff, and benefit from a broad, ambitious curriculum with strong SEND and reading support. The school also offers a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities and a well-considered personal development programme. However, behaviour during social times remains a concern for some pupils and parents, and sanctions do not sufficiently deter repeated poor behaviour. Attendance is too low, with too many pupils persistently absent and missing learning. Leadership has introduced several improvement initiatives, and the trust provides appropriate support and challenge, but many changes are at an early stage and are not evaluated precisely enough to show impact. The school recognises it needs to go further in improving attendance, behaviour systems and oversight of new approaches.

Strengths

• High expectations and an ethos that encourages pupils to 'have belief and be determined'.
• Current pupils receive a good quality of education and are well prepared for their next steps.
• Broad and ambitious curriculum with local links and modern foreign language study at key stage 3.
• Quick identification of SEND needs, with pupils learning the same curriculum and appropriate adjustments.
• Effective reading support helps pupils catch up and become more confident, fluent readers.
• Staff are subject specialists and pupils show increasingly confident recall over time.
• Most pupils are happy, develop positive relationships with staff and feel safe.
• A wide range of extra-curricular opportunities, including skateboarding, indoor bowls, gardening and cheerleading.
• Pupils can develop responsibility and leadership through the school council.
• Personal development is well promoted through the respect charter, online safety, knife crime education and careers work.
• Careers guidance includes speakers, visits, university trips and mock interviews.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Trust support and challenge are appropriate, and staff are positive about working at the school.

Areas for Improvement

• Behaviour and attitudes require improvement, with persistent poor behaviour during social times.
• Some parents and carers are concerned about the standard of behaviour at the school.
• Sanctions do not sufficiently deter repeated poor behaviour, and some pupils repeatedly receive sanctions without improving.
• Some pupils use derogatory language or fail to follow staff instructions and miss learning as a result.
• Attendance is too low, with too many pupils persistently absent and missing large amounts of learning.
• Gaps in knowledge from poor attendance hinder pupils' academic achievement.
• Leadership and management require improvement because new initiatives are at an early stage and not evaluated precisely enough.
• Oversight of improvement work is not precise enough to show what is working and what is not.
• Published outcomes remain below expectations.
• The number of pupils studying the English Baccalaureate suite at key stage 4 is below the government's ambition.
• Teachers do not always spot and address gaps in pupils' knowledge when checking understanding.

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 Bedminster Down School attended 86.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 39.8% 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, 14.0% of pupils at Bedminster Down School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No 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 Bedminster Down School had 17.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.8% 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, 19.6% of pupils at Bedminster Down School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.5% 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 Bedminster Down School received £9,556 and spent £9,397 for each of its 1,032 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £337,000 (£327 per pupil).

Across all 26 schools of Futura Learning Partnership, income was £7,630 and spending £7,598 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 Bristol · Bristol, City of local authority: places and applications

Bedminster Down School is part of Futura Learning Partnership, which runs 26 schools. The nearest others:

• Cheddar Grove Primary School Bristol
• Four Acres Academy Bristol
• Wansdyke Primary School Bristol
• Bridge Farm Primary School Bristol
• St John's Church of England Primary School Bristol
• Wellsway School Bristol
• IKB Academy Bristol
• Two Rivers Church of England Primary Bristol
• Chandag Primary School Bristol
• Sir Bernard Lovell Academy Bristol

What is Bedminster Down School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Bedminster Down School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Bedminster Down School last inspected by Ofsted?

Bedminster Down School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Bedminster Down School have?

Bedminster Down School has 1,022 pupils on roll.

What age range does Bedminster Down School cover?

Bedminster Down School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Bedminster Down School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.0, and 28% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Bedminster Down School?

Bedminster Down School is at Donald Road, Bedminster Down, Bristol, BS13 7DQ.