Outwood Academy Normanby

Outwood Academy Normanby requires significant improvement overall. Safeguarding standards are met, and inclusion and personal development and wellbeing are at the expected standard. Leaders identify pupils’ special educational needs and language needs accurately, work well with external agencies, and the resourced provision opened in September 2025 supports pupils to be included in the wider life of the school. Pupils benefit from a broad personal development, careers and enrichment offer. However, attendance and behaviour require urgent improvement. Attendance is too low and persistent absence, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, remains too high. Behaviour has improved and suspensions are reducing, but some pupils still experience bullying, derogatory language and unkind behaviour, and communication with pupils and parents about actions taken is inconsistent. Achievement, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance need attention. Examination results and Progress 8 remain below national averages, teaching is inconsistent, and staff do not always check understanding or help pupils build securely on prior knowledge. Leaders and the trust are committed and have taken decisive action, but attendance, consistency of behaviour expectations, assessment precision and key stage 4 outcomes remain key next steps. The school is part of Outwood Grange Multi Academy Trust and serves a context with well-above-average free school meal eligibility and special educational needs support.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and pupils feel safe.
• Leaders assess pupils’ needs accurately and identify SEND support effectively.
• The resourced provision opened in September 2025 supports inclusion in the wider life of the school.
• Leaders work effectively with external agencies and use alternative provision appropriately.
• The personal development programme covers relationships, safety, mental health and British values.
• Careers education is effectively delivered, including university visits and an annual careers fair.
• Pupils access a broad range of trips, enrichment activities and accessible sports clubs.
• Behaviour has improved since the last inspection and suspensions are reducing.
• Leaders and the trust have taken firm, decisive action in pupils’ best interests.
• Staff benefit from professional learning, including training around attachment and trauma.
• Reading, vocabulary and mathematics foundations are coherent, with Year 7 reading support from the first week.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance is too low and persistent absence, especially for pupils with SEND, shows little improvement.
• Pupils’ achievement and Progress 8 remain below national averages.
• Gaps in pupils’ prior learning continue to hold some pupils back.
• Teaching is not consistently effective, and staff do not routinely check understanding before moving on.
• In some subjects, learning does not help pupils develop increasingly detailed knowledge over time.
• Some pupils use derogatory language and experience bullying or unkind behaviour.
• Communication with pupils and parents about actions taken over behaviour incidents is sometimes inconsistent.
• Behaviour expectations are clear but are not always followed consistently.
• Leaders need to engage more effectively with parents and local agencies to improve attendance.
• More pupils need to achieve well in public examinations at the end of key stage 4.

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 Outwood Academy Normanby attended 87.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 36.2% 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, 17.6% of pupils at Outwood Academy Normanby were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 16 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 Outwood Academy Normanby had 16.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.1% 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, 21.5% of pupils at Outwood Academy Normanby were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.2% 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 Outwood Academy Normanby received £10,790 and spent £11,763 for each of its 765 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,080,000 (£1,412 per pupil).

Across all 40 schools of Outwood Grange Academies Trust, income was £8,313 and spending £8,200 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 Middlesbrough · Redcar and Cleveland local authority: places and applications

Outwood Academy Normanby is part of Outwood Grange Academies Trust, which runs 40 schools. The nearest others:

• Outwood Academy Ormesby Middlesbrough
• Outwood Academy Riverside Middlesbrough
• Outwood Academy Acklam Middlesbrough
• Outwood Academy Redcar Redcar
• Outwood Academy Bydales Redcar
• Outwood Academy Bishopsgarth Stockton-On-Tees
• Outwood Academy Easingwold York
• Outwood Academy Ripon Ripon
• Outwood Primary Academy Alne York
• Outwood Primary Academy Greystone Ripon

What is Outwood Academy Normanby's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Outwood Academy Normanby is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Outwood Academy Normanby last inspected by Ofsted?

Outwood Academy Normanby was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Outwood Academy Normanby have?

Outwood Academy Normanby has 787 pupils on roll.

What age range does Outwood Academy Normanby cover?

Outwood Academy Normanby for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Outwood Academy Normanby's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 36.5, and 28% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Outwood Academy Normanby?

Outwood Academy Normanby is at Normanby Road, South Bank, Middlesbrough, TS6 9AG.