Elizabeth Woodville School

Elizabeth Woodville School is a calm, inclusive secondary academy where pupils are happy, polite and feel safe. Inspectors found the school to be good in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. A recent curriculum redesign is helping pupils in key stages 3 and 4, including those with SEND, achieve well, and reading and pastoral support are notable priorities. Safeguarding is effective. The school is part of Tove Learning Trust, operates across two campuses, and has heads of school appointed in 2023; its previous inspection grade was requires improvement. The sixth form is the main area of weakness. Although teaching has improved and students receive excellent personalised support for university, apprenticeship and employment applications, students do not achieve as well as they should. Recent staff changes have caused instability in the courses offered, and students do not receive enough guided teaching time to secure the knowledge they need. Across the wider school, routines for checking recall and responding to gaps or misconceptions are not yet consistently embedded, so some pupils’ learning is less secure than it could be. Behaviour has improved, suspensions are beginning to fall from previously high levels, attendance is mostly good, and pupils benefit from a broad enrichment offer. Staff are happy and well supported by the trust. The key priorities are to strengthen the sixth-form curriculum and teaching time and to ensure all teachers check understanding precisely and respond to gaps in knowledge.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, polite and respectful in a calm and orderly school.
• Strong pastoral support, including personalised mental health support, helps pupils feel safe and cared for.
• The recently redesigned curriculum is well ordered and builds knowledge progressively.
• Pupils with SEND follow the same curriculum and learning activities are adapted to meet their needs.
• Reading is a priority, with effective support for pupils who struggle and sixth-form reading mentors.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with increasing uptake of English Baccalaureate subjects.
• Teachers have good subject knowledge and explain concepts clearly.
• Personal development is well supported through tutor time, assemblies, PSHE and careers guidance.
• Behaviour has improved, disruptions are rare and suspension rates are beginning to fall.
• Most pupils attend well, and the school provides effective attendance support.
• Sixth-form students receive excellent personalised support for university, apprenticeship and employment applications.
• Staff are happy and proud to work at the school and value support with workload and professional development.
• The multi-academy trust knows the school well and supports leaders effectively.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Sixth-form provision requires improvement.
• Sixth-form students do not achieve as well as they should.
• The sixth-form curriculum does not provide enough guided teaching time for students to secure necessary knowledge.
• Staff changes have caused instability in the sixth-form courses offered to students.
• Routines for checking pupils’ recall and responding to gaps or misconceptions are not consistently embedded across the curriculum.
• Some teachers do not accurately identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge or misconceptions, so pupils are not always corrected.

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 Elizabeth Woodville School attended 91.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 23.5% 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, 11.6% of pupils at Elizabeth Woodville School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 Elizabeth Woodville School had 18.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.7% 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, 17.3% of pupils at Elizabeth Woodville School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.2% 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 Elizabeth Woodville School received £7,760 and spent £8,165 for each of its 1,098 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £588,000 (-£536 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of Tove Learning Trust, income was £7,790 and spending £7,801 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 Milton Keynes · West Northamptonshire local authority: places and applications

Elizabeth Woodville School is part of Tove Learning Trust, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Stantonbury School Milton Keynes
• Lord Grey Academy Milton Keynes
• Roade Village Academy Roade
• Sponne School Towcester
• Knowles Primary School Milton Keynes
• Water Hall Primary School Milton Keynes
• Wootton Primary School Northampton
• Whitefriars Primary School Rushden
• Rushden Academy Rushden
• Huxlow Academy Irthlingborough

What is Elizabeth Woodville School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Elizabeth Woodville School is Good, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was Elizabeth Woodville School last inspected by Ofsted?

Elizabeth Woodville School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does Elizabeth Woodville School have?

Elizabeth Woodville School has 1,124 pupils on roll.

What age range does Elizabeth Woodville School cover?

Elizabeth Woodville School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Elizabeth Woodville School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.2, and 38% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Elizabeth Woodville School?

Elizabeth Woodville School is at Stratford Road, Deanshanger, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, MK19 6HN.