Abbeywood Community School

Abbeywood Community School is performing well overall, with inspectors finding strong provision across education, behaviour, personal development, leadership and the sixth form. Pupils thrive in a warm and supportive environment, behave very well, and benefit from an ambitious, well-structured curriculum and a wide range of enrichment opportunities. The school is particularly strong in reading and literacy, support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), careers guidance, and sixth-form provision, including bespoke preparation for further education, apprenticeships and employment. Safeguarding is effective, governance is strong, and staff are proud to work at the school. The main areas for improvement are focused rather than widespread. In a few subjects, teachers do not consistently adapt their teaching to address gaps in some pupils' knowledge, so a minority of pupils do not learn as well as they could. In addition, some pupils who receive pupil premium funding do not attend school regularly enough, meaning they miss valuable educational and pastoral opportunities. The school should work closely with parents and carers to improve this attendance and help those pupils catch up. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. Abbeywood is an academy within the Olympus Academy Trust and includes a specially resourced SEND provision for pupils with speech and language needs and/or autism. Its sixth-form provision is delivered across three schools in the trust.

Strengths

• Pupils thrive and value warm, supportive relationships with staff.
• Pupils behave very well, are punctual, and show empathy, politeness and kindness.
• The curriculum is well structured, academically ambitious and builds progressively on prior knowledge.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge and routinely recap prior learning.
• Reading is prioritised, with an effective literacy programme supporting pupils, including those with SEND.
• Pupils with SEND receive strong pastoral and academic support and are fully integrated into school life.
• Sixth-form students study a broad range of subjects, achieve well and receive effective guidance for their next steps.
• Careers guidance is detailed and supported by innovative links with local industries.
• Enrichment opportunities provide an impressive breadth of cultural, sporting and artistic experiences.
• Governance is strong and the school and trust work collaboratively to support staff workload and well-being.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, staff do not adapt teaching to address gaps in pupils' knowledge, so a minority of pupils do not learn as well as they could.
• Some pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding do not attend school regularly enough and miss educational and pastoral opportunities.

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 Abbeywood Community School attended 91.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.5% 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, 4.7% of pupils at Abbeywood Community 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 Abbeywood Community School had 18.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.9% 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 Abbeywood Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 22 pupils.

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 Abbeywood Community School received £8,668 and spent £8,597 for each of its 1,272 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £933,000 (£734 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of The Olympus Academy Trust, income was £7,840 and spending £7,814 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 · South Gloucestershire local authority: places and applications

Abbeywood Community School is part of The Olympus Academy Trust, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Filton Hill Primary School Bristol
• Charborough Road Primary School Bristol
• Meadowbrook Primary School Bristol
• Stoke Lodge Primary School Bristol
• Bradley Stoke Community School Bristol
• Callicroft Primary School Bristol
• Patchway Community School Almondsbury
• Winterbourne Academy Bristol
• Lyde Green Community School Bristol

What is Abbeywood Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Abbeywood Community School is Good, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Abbeywood Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Abbeywood Community School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Abbeywood Community School have?

Abbeywood Community School has 1,294 pupils on roll.

What age range does Abbeywood Community School cover?

Abbeywood Community School for pupils aged 11 to 19.

What are Abbeywood Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 47.8, and 46% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Abbeywood Community School?

Abbeywood Community School is at New Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8SF.