Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy is a secondary school in Ipswich and part of the Ormiston Academies Trust. It has had a new headteacher since January 2023 and significant changes to the senior leadership team. Inspectors found a warm, inclusive and orderly school where pupils feel safe, valued and proud to belong. Safeguarding is met. Most areas, including attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing, are judged to be at the expected standard. However, achievement is the main area requiring attention because examination results and pupil progress remain below national averages. The school's strengths include a caring and consistent culture, effective systems to improve attendance, calm behaviour, a broad and well-considered curriculum, and a coherent whole-school teaching strategy. Staff benefit from strong professional development, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language are well supported. Personal development is a particular strength, with a wide range of opportunities, strong careers education, high-quality pastoral care, and a vibrant community where diversity is celebrated. Disadvantaged pupils perform close to national averages in some measures, and reading interventions help pupils overcome barriers. The main concerns are academic outcomes. GCSE results, Attainment 8 and Progress 8 are below national averages, and leaders' improvements are at an early stage and have not yet translated into better external examination results. Attendance and persistent absence remain above national averages, and leaders should continue targeted work to embed improvement for all groups. Leaders should also monitor the quality of pupils' work to ensure it consistently demonstrates newly acquired learning.

Strengths

• Warm, consistent and caring culture where pupils feel valued and safe
• Effective attendance systems and close work with families to reduce barriers
• Calm and orderly behaviour across the school
• Swift and serious handling of bullying and discriminatory behaviour
• Broad, balanced and well-considered curriculum suited to the school's context
• Consistent whole-school teaching strategy supporting recall and purposeful learning
• Strong professional development programme for staff
• Inclusive culture with robust support for pupils with SEND and EAL
• Effective 'elevate' provision for pupils needing additional support
• Comprehensive personal development, careers education and wellbeing support
• Wide range of clubs, rewards and community activities that build belonging
• Pupils celebrate diversity and feel proud of their school
• Strong leadership vision and effective trust support
• Reading interventions help pupils access the full curriculum
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve close to national averages in some measures
• High-quality pastoral support that pupils trust
• Effective careers education preparing pupils for future education, employment or training

Areas for Improvement

• Examination results remain below national averages
• Pupils' progress is not yet in line with their peers nationally
• Improvements to achievement are at an early stage and not yet reflected in outcomes
• Attendance rates and persistent absence remain above national averages
• Leaders should continue targeted work on attendance to embed impact for all groups
• The quality of work produced by students does not consistently demonstrate newly acquired learning
• Actions to improve achievement have yet to translate into better external test and examination outcomes

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 Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy attended 88.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 29.2% 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, 8.9% of pupils at Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 7 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 Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.5% 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, 10.4% of pupils at Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.1% 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 Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy received £8,426 and spent £7,645 for each of its 790 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £597,000 (£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 Ipswich · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy is part of Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs 41 schools. The nearest others:

• Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy Ipswich
• Ormiston Endeavour Academy Ipswich
• Ormiston Sudbury Academy Sudbury
• Ormiston Rivers Academy Burnham-On-Crouch
• City of Norwich School, An Ormiston Academy Norwich
• Ormiston Denes Academy Lowestoft
• Ormiston Victory Academy Norwich
• Ormiston Venture Academy Gorleston
• Cliff Park Ormiston Academy Great Yarmouth
• Ormiston Cliff Park Primary Academy Great Yarmouth

What is Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy have?

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy has 811 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy cover?

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 36.0, and 25% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy?

Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy is at Maidenhall Approach, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP2 8PL.