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Wrenn School

Secondary Ages 11-18 1,537 pupils Wellingborough
Ofsted: Good

Wrenn School is an academy sponsor led in Wellingborough for pupils aged 11 to 18. It has 1,537 pupils on roll. The latest Ofsted rating for Wrenn School is Good, from an inspection in January 2024. In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.0, and 45% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Ofsted inspection: January 2024. GCSE results: 2026. A-level results: 2025.

Type Secondary / Academy sponsor led
Age Range 11-18
Religion Unknown
Address London Road
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN8 2DQ
Phone 01933222039
Reference Number 139961

General Makeup

Number of pupils 1537
Boy/Girl ratio Boys: 49.32%
Girls: 50.68%
Percentage of students eligible for free school meals 29.3%
Percentage of students where English is not their first language 30.5%

Class Sizes

Average size of one teacher classes 24.4

Year Groups

Year Boys Girls Total
7 135 151 286
8 136 131 267
9 135 136 271
10 119 145 264
11 150 103 253
12 54 53 107
13 29 60 89

Ethnicities

Ethnicity Percentage
White, British 50.2%
White, Other 19.1%
African 9.2%
Indian 3.4%
White & Black (Caribbean) 3%
Mixed, Other 2.2%
Caribbean 1.6%
Asian, Other 1.6%
White & Black (African) 1.5%
White & Asian 1.2%
Pakistani 1.1%
Unclassified 1%
Irish 0.2%
Chinese 0.1%

Wrenn School continues to perform well, maintaining its good rating since its last inspection in 2018. The school boasts a diverse community with high aspirations for all pupils, aiding both academic and personal development through various extracurricular activities. The supportive environment fosters positive relationships and a sense of belonging among students, which contributes to their happiness and safety at school.

Overall Ofsted Rating Good
Last Report Date 13 Dec 2023
Date Report
13 Dec 2023 School inspection
09 May 2018 Full inspection:
09 May 2017 Monitoring visit
18 Oct 2016 Full inspection:
14 Jan 2016 Monitoring visit
02 Jun 2015 Full inspection:

Strengths

  • Strong focus on developing and rewarding pupils’ character virtues.
  • Broad and ambitious curriculum designed collaboratively with the trust.
  • Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
  • High levels of staff training and subject knowledge facilitating effective teaching.
  • Strong personal, social, and health education programming.
  • Pupils engage positively with learning and appreciate the support from teachers.
  • Wide-ranging extracurricular opportunities enhancing pupils' interests.

Areas for Improvement

  • Some pupils find the work too easy in a minority of subjects.
  • A small group of pupils struggle with self-regulation despite recent improvements in behaviour.

Attainment 8 Score

Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:

  • English
  • Maths
  • 3 subjects from qualifications that count towards the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), like sciences, language and history
  • 3 more GCSE qualifications (including EBacc subjects) or technical awards from a list approved by the Department for Education

Each grade a pupil gets is assigned a point score from 9 (the highest) to 1 (the lowest). These scores are added up, with English and maths counted twice.

School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
45

GCSE Results

Metric School Score Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Grade 5 or above in English and maths 45.4%
5 or more GCSEs at grade 9-4 (or A-C) 57.8%

Attainment 8 Score

Attaimenment 8 is a measure of a pupil's average grade across a set of 8 subjects. The 8 subjects which make up Attainment 8 are:

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GCSE Results

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Grades

School Local Nationwide
Average Grade C C C+
Average Grade (best 3) C+ C+ C+
Percentage Percentile (local) Percentile (nationwide)
Students getting AAB or better 12.5%
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Year 7 admissions, 2026 entry

Number of Applications Number of Offers
First Preference
Second Preference 250 42
Third Preference 116 2
From another Local Authority 3 1

Previous years

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Places and pupil numbers

In 2024–25 Wrenn School had 1,474 pupils for 1,632 places. 158 places (9.7%) were unfilled. It also plans 30 temporary "bulge" places for a large year group.

Pupils and places

Year 7 intake in the “wboro Sec” planning area

North Northamptonshire counted 1,011 Year 7 pupils in this area in 2024–25 and forecasts 1,202 in 2031–32, up 19%.

20142015201620172018201920212022202320242025
Places 1,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,6321,632
Pupils 1,2531,1821,1321,0421,0311,0811,2251,3071,3621,4311,474
Unfilled 23.2%27.6%30.6%36.2%36.8%33.8%24.9%19.9%16.5%12.3%9.7%

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 Wrenn School attended 91.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

20142015201620172018201920212022202320242025
Authorised absence 4.4%5.1%4.0%4.2%3.5%3.4%3.2%5.8%4.6%4.9%4.1%
Unauthorised absence 1.8%1.7%1.4%1.6%1.9%2.3%2.9%5.0%5.9%4.9%4.3%
Severely absent pupils 1.4%1.5%0.7%0.5%1.1%1.4%2.5%4.1%5.6%5.1%3.4%

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, 9.2% of pupils at Wrenn School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 9 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Suspensions per 100 pupils 5.48.84.55.85.48.65.710.623.764.559.026.9
Permanent exclusions 15445770515129

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 Wrenn School had 19.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

2014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Pupils per adult 9.29.110.19.810.311.613.112.512.212.412.411.612.2
Teachers who left state teaching 10.3%12.9%8.9%6.8%4.3%4.4%10.1%7.3%8.2%13.1%13.9%10.7%–
Teachers who took any sick leave –62.9%72.4%64.4%73.3%56.8%–53.8%72.4%79.8%66.0%56.8%–
Sick days per teacher –4.75.33.95.03.4–4.45.66.94.65.4–

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, 17.4% of pupils at Wrenn School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

SEN support EHC plan
No specialist assessment of need 89 0
Social, emotional and mental health 56 10
Specific learning difficulty 42 4
Autistic spectrum disorder 27 3
Moderate learning difficulty 19 7
Speech, language and communication needs 16 6
Other difficulty or disability 7 1
Hearing impairment 4 2
Vision impairment 4 1
Physical disability 4 0
Severe learning difficulty 0 4

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 Wrenn School received £10,350 and spent £10,286 for each of its 1,469 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,055,000 (£719 per pupil).

Across all 17 schools of Creative Education Trust, income was £8,557 and spending £8,500 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

202020212022202320242025
Revenue reserve -£368,000£93,000-£29,000£47,000£920,000£1,055,000
per pupil -£324£75-£22£34£636£719
In-year balance £27,000£455,000£566,000£134,000£192,000£94,000
per pupil £24£370£434£98£133£64

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.

Name Distance
All Saints CEVA Primary School and Nursery
Castle Street, All Saints Ceva Primary School and Nursery Unit, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 1LS
0.31 miles
Refocus
6 Knox Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 1HW
0.39 miles
Park Junior School, Wellingborough
Great Park Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4PH
0.56 miles
The Avenue Infant School
The Avenue, The Avenue Infant School, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4ET
0.65 miles
St Barnabas Church of England School
St Barnabas Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 3HB
0.66 miles
Croyland Nursery School & Day Nursery
Croyland Road, WELLINGBOROUGH, NN8 2AX
0.66 miles
Croyland Primary School
Croyland Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 2AX
0.68 miles
Warwick Academy
Dulley Avenue, Wellingborough, NN8 2PS
0.75 miles
Freemans Endowed Church of England Junior Academy
Westfield Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 3HD
0.77 miles
Victoria Primary Academy
Finedon Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4NT
0.81 miles
Highfield Nursery School
Finedon Road, Wellingborough, NN8 4AB
0.82 miles
Rowan Gate Primary School - Four Sites
Rowan Gate Primary School, Finedon Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4NS
0.86 miles
Our Lady's Catholic Primary School
Henshaw Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 2BE
0.96 miles
Oakway Academy
102 Oakway, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4SD
1.22 miles
Stanton Cross Primary School
Waverley Drive, Stanton Cross, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 1GN
1.41 miles
Ruskin Infant School
Ruskin Avenue, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 3EG
1.49 miles
Ruskin Academy
Ruskin Avenue, Wellingborough, NN8 3EG
1.5 miles
Redwell Primary School
Barnwell Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 5LQ
1.51 miles
Olympic Primary
Olympic Way, Wellingborough, NN8 3QA
1.52 miles
Great Doddington Primary
Church Lane, Great Doddington, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN29 7TR
1.72 miles
Name Distance
Wellingborough School
London Road, Wellingborough, NN8 2BX
0.09 miles
Friars Academy
Friars Close, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 2LA
0.25 miles
Sir Christopher Hatton Academy
The Pyghtle, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4RP
0.89 miles
Weavers Academy
Brickhill Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 3JH
1.09 miles
Wollaston School
Irchester Road, Wollaston, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN29 7PH
2.97 miles
Rushden Academy
Hayway, Rushden, Northamptonshire, NN10 6AG
3.55 miles
Huxlow Academy
Finedon Road, Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, NN9 5TY
3.64 miles
The Ferrers School
Queensway, Higham Ferrers, Rushden, Northamptonshire, NN10 8LF
4.31 miles
Chelveston Road School
Chelveston Road, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, NN10 8HN
4.53 miles

All schools in Wellingborough · North Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

Wrenn School is part of Creative Education Trust, which runs 17 schools. The nearest others:

What is Wrenn School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Wrenn School is Good, from an inspection in January 2024.

When was Wrenn School last inspected by Ofsted?

Wrenn School was last inspected in January 2024.

How many pupils does Wrenn School have?

Wrenn School has 1,537 pupils on roll.

What age range does Wrenn School cover?

Wrenn School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Wrenn School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.0, and 45% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Wrenn School?

Wrenn School is at London Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 2DQ.

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