Stopsley High School

Stopsley High School is a larger-than-average secondary school in Luton, part of the Middlesex Learning Trust, with a resourced speech, language and communication provision and a catchment facing well-above-average deprivation. Safeguarding standards are met, and inspectors found a school where pupils feel safe, supported and respected. Inclusion and personal development are particular strengths, with robust transition and screening processes, effective support for pupils with SEND and EAL, strong pastoral care, and a highly effective careers programme that prepares pupils well for adulthood.

Strengths

• Inclusive culture with robust transition, screening and prompt targeted support for pupils with SEND and EAL.
• Effective deployment of teaching assistants and inclusive classrooms, including for pupils in the Archimedes base.
• Strong personal development and wellbeing programme that responds to local issues and builds understanding of consent, healthy relationships, discrimination and British values.
• Pastoral support is a clear strength, with personalised, responsive systems and trusted adults available to pupils.
• Highly effective careers education and preparation for adulthood, including work experience, mock interviews, careers fairs and college visits.
• Strategic leadership of attendance has led to sustained improvement, with overall attendance now broadly in line with national figures.
• Positive behaviour across the school, with clear routines, high expectations, respectful relationships and suspensions below national averages.
• Pupils report that bullying is rare and that discrimination is addressed promptly and appropriately.
• Improvements in reading and literacy, supported by phonics and numeracy interventions, are helping pupils access the curriculum.
• Skilled governance provides effective support and challenge, with governors engaged in school life and aware of improvement priorities.
• Leaders have a clear vision, foster a supportive staff culture, and use professional development and external partnerships well.
• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture in which concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed.

Areas for Improvement

• Outcomes vary between subjects and progress remains uneven across the curriculum.
• Differences between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, while diminishing, are not yet fully closed.
• Teaching quality is not yet consistently strong across all subjects, and some subject areas or teachers are still developing questioning and checks for understanding.
• Writing has been identified as a priority, but work to develop vocabulary, written expression and handwriting is at an early stage and has not yet secured consistent impact.
• Expectations around presentation and improvement are uneven, limiting the overall impact on pupils' outcomes.
• Some improvements in inclusion and leadership are still embedding and are not yet consistently reflected in outcomes across all groups.

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 Stopsley High School attended 92.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.3% 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, 3.4% of pupils at Stopsley High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 6 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 Stopsley High School had 15.5 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, 15.3% of pupils at Stopsley High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.1% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 8 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 Stopsley High School received £7,896 and spent £8,066 for each of its 1,078 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £3,044,000 (£2,824 per pupil).

Across all 3 schools of Middlesex Learning Trust, income was £8,153 and spending £8,439 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 Luton · Luton local authority: places and applications

Stopsley High School is part of Middlesex Learning Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Southgate School Barnet
• The Compton School London

What is Stopsley High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stopsley High School is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Stopsley High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Stopsley High School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Stopsley High School have?

Stopsley High School has 1,046 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stopsley High School cover?

Stopsley High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Stopsley High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 43.9, and 44% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Stopsley High School?

Stopsley High School is at St. Thomas's Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 7UX.