Thomas Middlecott Academy

Thomas Middlecott Academy is a caring, calm school where staff know pupils well and pupils trust adults to help them. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management are good, while the quality of education requires improvement. The school has experienced significant staffing changes since its previous inspection, but leaders and the David Ross Education Trust have worked to stabilise staffing and improve routines, attendance and provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Safeguarding is effective. The curriculum is ambitious and well structured, and pupils benefit from strong pastoral care, an on-site alternative provision, a wide enrichment offer and improving SEND support. However, implementation is inconsistent across subjects. Some subject leaders are new or less well developed, and staff do not routinely check pupils’ understanding or close learning gaps, so some pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The trust’s reading programme is also taught inconsistently, and some pupils, including vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils, still attend too infrequently. Overall, the school is improving and has notable strengths in behaviour, personal development, governance and care, but it must strengthen subject leadership, make teaching and reading more consistent, and continue to reduce persistent absence so that all pupils achieve well.

Strengths

• Strong pastoral care with staff who know pupils well
• Calm atmosphere with low-level disruption increasingly rare
• Improved morning routines and a breakfast club that help pupils arrive ready to learn
• Skilled support for pupils who need help regulating behaviour, including pupils with SEND
• Targeted on-site alternative provision that helps pupils remain in school and learn
• Ambitious, well-structured curriculum with high expectations
• Effective teaching and learning strategies in some subjects, such as English
• Improved SEND identification, curriculum adaptation and achievement
• Reading is a school priority, with expert support for pupils who struggle to read
• Improving attendance due to high-quality work with pupils and families
• Well-planned personal, social and health education
• Suitably ambitious and effective careers advice and guidance
• Pupils access trips, enrichment and a broad range of sporting activities
• Strong governance and effective internal support for leaders
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• Quality of education requires improvement because the curriculum is not implemented consistently across subjects
• Some subject leaders are new or less well developed and have not had the training and support needed
• Staff do not routinely check pupils’ understanding or identify learning gaps, so some gaps remain unaddressed
• The trust’s ‘DRET reads’ programme is taught inconsistently, limiting support for reading fluency and breadth
• Some pupils, including vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils, do not attend regularly enough
• Published outcomes show pupils did not achieve as well as they should, although current achievement is improving
• Variation in teaching quality can leave pupils’ behaviour less settled

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 Thomas Middlecott Academy attended 89.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 34.8% 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, 19.8% of pupils at Thomas Middlecott Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was 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 Thomas Middlecott Academy had 19.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.4% 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, 18.8% of pupils at Thomas Middlecott Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.6% 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 Thomas Middlecott Academy received £8,901 and spent £8,090 for each of its 600 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £759,000 (£1,266 per pupil).

Across all 36 schools of The David Ross Education Trust, income was £8,189 and spending £8,020 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 Boston · Lincolnshire local authority: places and applications

Thomas Middlecott Academy is part of The David Ross Education Trust, which runs 36 schools. The nearest others:

• The Barnes Wallis Academy Lincoln
• The Eresby School, Spilsby Spilsby
• King Edward VI Academy Spilsby
• Ingoldsby Academy Grantham
• Charles Read Academy Grantham
• The Richmond Primary Academy Skegness
• Skegness Grammar School Skegness
• Hogsthorpe Primary Academy Skegness
• Rockingham Primary School Corby
• Bringhurst Primary School Market Harborough

What is Thomas Middlecott Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Thomas Middlecott Academy is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2025.

When was Thomas Middlecott Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Thomas Middlecott Academy was last inspected in July 2025.

How many pupils does Thomas Middlecott Academy have?

Thomas Middlecott Academy has 612 pupils on roll.

What age range does Thomas Middlecott Academy cover?

Thomas Middlecott Academy for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Thomas Middlecott Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 27.6, and 6% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Thomas Middlecott Academy?

Thomas Middlecott Academy is at Edinburgh Drive, Kirton, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE20 1JS.