Ormiston Denes Academy

Ormiston Denes Academy is a secondary comprehensive school in Lowestoft and is part of the Ormiston Academies Trust. It was previously judged Requires improvement, and this March 2025 graded inspection found the school Good in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Under the current inspection framework, no overall effectiveness grade is issued. Pupils enjoy attending, recognise recent improvements, and say staff have their best interests at heart. The school has made substantial progress. Its curriculum is broad, well sequenced and focused on what pupils need to learn, and staff generally teach with strong subject knowledge and skilled questioning. Pupils with SEND are identified and supported well, reading is promoted effectively, and attendance and behaviour have improved markedly, with suspensions falling considerably. Personal development, careers guidance and enrichment are strong, staff feel well supported, and safeguarding is effective. The school notes that low 2024 published outcomes do not reflect the current quality of education. The main concern is that teaching is not consistently effective in a few subjects. In those areas, some staff do not have a secure enough understanding of how to teach specific subjects, so pupils do not always gain the breadth and depth of knowledge they should. The school is expected to support staff to deliver high-quality learning across the whole curriculum so that pupils achieve highly in all subjects.

Strengths

• Highly ambitious curriculum that clearly sequences important knowledge.
• Teachers use strong subject knowledge and skilled questioning to check learning.
• Staff identify and adapt effectively for pupils with SEND without over-simplifying tasks.
• Effective reading provision, including regular reading and targeted support for weaker readers.
• Significant improvements in attendance and behaviour, with fewer suspensions.
• Highly effective pastoral support and provisions that help pupils manage feelings and behaviour.
• Strong personal development, including equality, healthy relationships, safety and careers guidance.
• Wide range of leadership, enrichment and work experience opportunities.
• Staff are well supported and highly positive about working at the school.
• Trustees and governors rigorously check the school’s effectiveness.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• In a few subjects, teaching is less effective than in stronger subjects.
• Some staff lack secure understanding of how to teach specific subjects effectively.
• Pupils do not always gain the breadth and depth of knowledge they should in those subjects.

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 Ormiston Denes Academy attended 90.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 28.0% 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, 14.8% of pupils at Ormiston Denes Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 8 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 Ormiston Denes Academy had 16.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 14.2% 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, 28.8% of pupils at Ormiston Denes Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 8.2% 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 Ormiston Denes Academy received £9,909 and spent £9,633 for each of its 732 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £553,000 (£755 per pupil).

Across all 40 schools of Ormiston Academies Trust, income was £8,888 and spending £8,698 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 Lowestoft · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Ormiston Denes Academy is part of Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs 41 schools. The nearest others:

• Ormiston Cliff Park Primary Academy Great Yarmouth
• Cliff Park Ormiston Academy Great Yarmouth
• Ormiston Venture Academy Gorleston
• Ormiston Herman Academy Great Yarmouth
• Edward Worlledge Ormiston Academy Great Yarmouth
• Flegg High Ormiston Academy Great Yarmouth
• Broadland High Ormiston Academy Norwich
• City of Norwich School, An Ormiston Academy Norwich
• Ormiston Victory Academy Norwich
• Ormiston Endeavour Academy Ipswich

What is Ormiston Denes Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Ormiston Denes Academy is Good, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Ormiston Denes Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Ormiston Denes Academy was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Ormiston Denes Academy have?

Ormiston Denes Academy has 711 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ormiston Denes Academy cover?

Ormiston Denes Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Ormiston Denes Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.7, and 29% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Ormiston Denes Academy?

Ormiston Denes Academy is at Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 4AH.