Clifton Community School

Clifton Community School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating in several key areas including quality of education, personal development, and leadership. The school has made significant efforts to improve pupil engagement and curriculum sequencing, which is beneficial for all pupils, including those with special educational needs. However, there are areas such as science that require further enhancement, with students indicating that the work can sometimes be too easy and less well sequenced than in other subjects. The school also faces challenges with pupil attendance and behavior management, although there has been noticeable improvement in these areas recently.

Strengths

• Strong relationships between staff and pupils.
• Effective support for pupils with weak literacy and numeracy skills.
• Good subject knowledge among teachers.
• Access to a wide range of personal development activities.
• High expectations for pupil achievements from leaders and teachers.

Areas for Improvement

• Behaviour requires improvement with high incidents of exclusions.
• Curriculum sequencing in science is not as developed as in other subjects.
• Pupil attendance remains below national average.
• Inconsistent analysis of behaviour information by leaders.

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 Clifton Community School attended 87.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 37.4% 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, 11.5% of pupils at Clifton Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 9 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 Clifton Community School had 17.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.0% 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, 24.6% of pupils at Clifton Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.0% 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 Clifton Community School received £10,008 and spent £9,389 for each of its 1,116 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,774,000 (£1,589 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of Wickersley Partnership Trust, income was £8,491 and spending £8,459 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 Rotherham · Rotherham local authority: places and applications

Clifton Community School is part of Wickersley Partnership Trust, which runs 13 schools. The nearest others:

• Rawmarsh Ashwood Primary School Rotherham
• Foljambe Primary School Rotherham
• Thrybergh Primary School Rotherham
• Thrybergh Academy Rotherham
• Rawmarsh Community School Rotherham
• Rawmarsh Sandhill Primary School Rotherham
• Brinsworth Whitehill Primary School Rotherham
• Monkwood Primary School Rotherham
• Wickersley School and Sports College Rotherham
• Aston Lodge Primary School Sheffield

What is Clifton Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Clifton Community School is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Clifton Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Clifton Community School was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Clifton Community School have?

Clifton Community School has 1,146 pupils on roll.

What age range does Clifton Community School cover?

Clifton Community School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Clifton Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.0, and 32% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Clifton Community School?

Clifton Community School is at Middle Lane, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S65 2SN.