Appleton Academy

Appleton Academy is a large all-through school in Bradford, part of Exceed Academies Trust. It serves a disadvantaged catchment with high proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors found that most provision, including attendance and behaviour, early years, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing, is performing as expected. Pupils feel safe, behaviour is generally positive, attendance has improved, and younger pupils do well. However, achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance require improvement. Key stage 4 outcomes are significantly below national averages for all pupils and for disadvantaged pupils, and Progress 8 is negative, meaning too many older pupils leave without the knowledge, skills and qualifications they need for their next steps. Teaching is inconsistent, especially in the secondary phase, and teachers do not always check that pupils have secured important knowledge before moving on. Leaders have begun to address these issues, but the work is in its early stages and their improvement priorities and monitoring need to be sharper. The school has notable strengths in its early years provision, inclusion systems, personal development curriculum, careers programme, and enrichment offer. Primary outcomes are broadly in line with national averages, and Year 4 multiplication tables outcomes are significantly above national. The next steps focus on implementing the curriculum consistently, checking pupils’ understanding, using the pupil premium strategy effectively, continuing to improve attendance, and making improvement priorities more precise.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where concerns are identified and managed.
• Attendance has improved and is now broadly in line with national averages for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Persistent absence has reduced over time.
• Pupils’ behaviour is typically positive, classrooms are calm, and suspensions have fallen.
• Early years is a happy, welcoming place with warm relationships and a well-considered curriculum.
• Children in early years follow a structured programme in reading, writing and mathematics from Nursery.
• Inclusion systems identify needs quickly and accurately, and the two specially resourced provisions offer effective bespoke support.
• The PSHE curriculum is comprehensive and age-appropriate, preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• The careers programme is well planned, with strong employer engagement and personalised advice.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of enrichment opportunities, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Primary outcomes are broadly in line with national averages, and Year 4 multiplication tables outcomes are significantly above national.
• Leaders are visible, considerate of staff workload and wellbeing, and staff appreciate the professional learning programme.

Areas for Improvement

• Key stage 4 achievement is significantly below national averages for all pupils and disadvantaged pupils.
• Too many older pupils do not gain the knowledge, skills and qualifications needed for their next stage.
• Progress 8 is well below national, and disadvantaged pupils’ Progress 8 is particularly weak.
• Curriculum implementation is variable, especially in the secondary phase.
• Teaching is not consistently responsive, and teachers do not always check that pupils have secured key knowledge before moving on.
• There remain gaps in many older pupils’ core learning, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Leaders’ understanding of the school’s strengths and areas to improve is less precise than it needs to be.
• Leaders have not acted swiftly enough to address below-average secondary achievement.
• The pupil premium strategy is not consistently implemented well for older disadvantaged pupils.
• Attendance still needs further improvement, particularly for older pupils.
• Some professional learning, such as adaptive teaching, is less well established.
• Some pupils’ presentation and handwriting need improvement.
• Destinations after 16 are below national averages.
• Bullying and derogatory language sometimes occur, though leaders address them quickly.

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 Appleton Academy attended 90.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 26.0% 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, 13.1% of pupils at Appleton Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No 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 Appleton Academy had 14.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.4% 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, 25.1% of pupils at Appleton Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 6.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 33 pupils.

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 Appleton Academy received £8,826 and spent £9,213 for each of its 1,258 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £227,000 (£181 per pupil).

Across all 12 schools of Exceed Academies Trust, income was £8,803 and spending £8,779 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 Bradford · Bradford local authority: places and applications

Appleton Academy is part of Exceed Academies Trust, which runs 12 schools. The nearest others:

• Bowling Park Primary School Bradford
• Horton Park Primary School Bradford
• Oastlers School Bradford
• Copthorne Primary School Bradford
• Horton Grange Primary School Bradford
• Knowleswood Primary School Bradford
• Cavendish Primary School Bradford
• Holybrook Primary School Bradford
• Cottingley Village Primary School Bingley
• Baildon Glen Primary School Shipley

What is Appleton Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Appleton Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Appleton Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Appleton Academy was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Appleton Academy have?

Appleton Academy has 1,207 pupils on roll.

What age range does Appleton Academy cover?

Appleton Academy for pupils aged 3 to 16.

What are Appleton Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 36.0, and 24% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

What are Appleton Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Appleton Academy?

Appleton Academy is at Woodside Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD12 8AL.