Mark Rutherford School

Mark Rutherford School is a caring, inclusive school where pupils behave very well and feel safe. Inspectors found safeguarding standards met. It is the only school in the Mark Rutherford School Trust and includes a specialist resource base for pupils with autism. Attendance and behaviour and inclusion are particular strengths: vulnerable pupils and new arrivals with low attendance receive highly effective individualised support, pupils with SEND have high attendance, and pupils with SEND, including those in The Nightingale Centre, are well supported and integrated into mainstream school life. Leaders have addressed weaknesses from the previous inspection, improved teaching and culture, and put accurate quality assurance and governance in place. Most areas of the school are performing at the expected standard. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, teaching is generally precise, reading is a priority, and disadvantaged pupils learn well. Pupils are polite, respectful and motivated, and the personal development programme, careers advice and extra-curricular opportunities prepare them well for life in modern Britain. The main area needing attention is post-16 provision. Published outcomes have been low and some students' writing lacks depth, although leaders have raised expectations, redesigned the curriculum and improved current learning; these improvements are not yet reflected in published results. The new personal development programme is still embedding, and some pupils do not fully understand individual difference. Leaders also need to ensure the new writing curriculum is delivered consistently and improves pupils' writing across the school.

Strengths

• Pupils behave very well, are polite and respectful, and classrooms are calm and purposeful.
• Bullying and unkindness are rare, and pupils take responsibility for their own behaviour.
• Leaders provide highly effective, individualised support that rapidly improves attendance for vulnerable pupils and new arrivals.
• Pupils with SEND have high attendance and are well supported to learn alongside their peers.
• Inclusion is woven through school life, with strong work with external agencies and sparing use of alternative provision.
• The specialist resource base, The Nightingale Centre, is seamlessly integrated into mainstream lessons and school life.
• Parents and families are closely involved in developing and adjusting SEND plans.
• Disadvantaged pupils learn well and close knowledge gaps quickly.
• The curriculum is broad, balanced and logically sequenced, and teachers have strong subject knowledge.
• Reading is a priority and is taught well, including effective support for pupils at the earliest stages.
• Leaders have addressed previous inspection weaknesses and put robust quality assurance and governance in place.
• Staff feel valued and leaders and governors consider workload and work-life balance.
• The redesigned personal development programme, careers guidance and wide range of trips and activities prepare pupils well.
• Post-16 students respond positively to higher expectations, attend and engage well, and benefit from improved support and careers guidance.

Areas for Improvement

• Post-16 provision needs attention because historical published outcomes have been low and students have not achieved well.
• Improvements in post-16 learning are not yet reflected in published outcomes, and leaders must ensure strategies become embedded.
• Some pupils' written work, including post-16 students' writing, lacks depth and richness.
• The new writing curriculum is not yet delivered consistently well across the school.
• Aspects of the redesigned personal development programme are still embedding.
• Some pupils do not fully understand individual difference, such as types of disability or key aspects of religions different from their own.
• Persistent absence was above the national average in the most recent one-term data, although overall attendance is broadly in line.

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 Mark Rutherford School attended 90.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 28.7% 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, 6.3% of pupils at Mark Rutherford 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 Mark Rutherford School had 14.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.3% 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, 16.0% of pupils at Mark Rutherford School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.1% 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 Mark Rutherford School received £7,961 and spent £8,234 for each of its 1,182 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £990,000 (£838 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.

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What is Mark Rutherford School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Mark Rutherford School is Needs attention, from an inspection in January 2026.

When was Mark Rutherford School last inspected by Ofsted?

Mark Rutherford School was last inspected in January 2026.

How many pupils does Mark Rutherford School have?

Mark Rutherford School has 1,150 pupils on roll.

What age range does Mark Rutherford School cover?

Mark Rutherford School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Mark Rutherford School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.7, and 28% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Mark Rutherford School?

Mark Rutherford School is at Wentworth Drive, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK41 8PX.