St Birinus School

St Birinus School is a boys' secondary comprehensive and part of the Ridgeway Education Trust, with a shared sixth form run alongside Didcot Girls' School. This was its first graded inspection under section 5 and its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders, including the trust, have set high expectations and created a strong culture of care, courtesy and commitment that pupils and staff visibly share. Pupils are respectful, well behaved and positive about school, and sixth-form students act as strong role models. The curriculum is broad and ambitious across all year groups, and pupils achieve well in external examinations. Teaching is generally strong, with clear explanations, skilful questioning and helpful feedback, and disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are well supported. Reading, pastoral care, personal development and careers provision are thoughtfully designed, and attendance and behaviour have improved. Leadership and management are a particular strength, with effective communication, well-designed training and robust trust challenge and support. Safeguarding is effective. The main area for improvement is a small amount of inconsistency in how fully the school's teaching principles are embedded. In some areas, pupils are not consistently required to think deeply, explain their thinking and apply learning to increasingly complex tasks. In the sixth form, opportunities to explore and discuss personal development themes in greater depth can also vary.

Strengths

• Strong culture of care, courtesy and commitment with high expectations
• Friendly, welcoming atmosphere with respectful and well-behaved pupils
• Sixth-form students act as positive role models for younger pupils
• Broad and ambitious curriculum across all year groups
• Pupils achieve well in external examinations
• Curriculum adaptation for individuals, including external providers, is successful
• Rich extra-curricular and leadership opportunities
• Clear systems, effective communication and well-designed staff training
• Curriculum is logically sequenced so knowledge and skills build securely
• Most teachers use skilful questioning and helpful feedback effectively
• Disadvantaged pupils are a high priority and achieve well
• Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported well
• Thoughtful reading strategy supports reading for pleasure and catch-up
• High-quality pastoral care and emotional resilience support
• Suspension rates are falling and attendance has improved
• Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain
• Strong careers programme with contributions from external partners
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Staff feel valued and parents are highly supportive

Areas for Improvement

• Teaching principles are not yet fully embedded in some areas
• Some pupils do not systematically gain the depth of understanding and subject fluency they could
• Sixth-form opportunities to explore personal development themes in greater depth can vary

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 Birinus School attended 91.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 19.9% 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, 9.5% of pupils at St Birinus 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 St Birinus School had 19.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 22.7% 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, 20.8% of pupils at St Birinus School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.7% 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 Birinus School received £7,573 and spent £7,293 for each of its 1,212 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £92,000 (-£76 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Ridgeway Education Trust, income was £7,165 and spending £7,065 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 Didcot · Oxfordshire local authority: places and applications

St Birinus School is part of Ridgeway Education Trust, which runs 8 schools. The nearest others:

• Didcot Girls' School Didcot
• Hagbourne Church of England Primary School Didcot
• All Saints Church of England Primary School Didcot
• Stephen Freeman Primary School Didcot
• Sutton Courtenay Church of England Primary School Abingdon
• Long Wittenham (Church of England) Primary School Abingdon
• Carterton Primary School Carterton

What is St Birinus School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Birinus School is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was St Birinus School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Birinus School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does St Birinus School have?

St Birinus School has 1,237 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Birinus School cover?

St Birinus School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Birinus School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 50.8, and 56% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Birinus School?

St Birinus School is at Mereland Road, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 8AZ.