Dixons Croxteth Academy

Dixons Croxteth Academy has undergone a rapid improvement journey since joining Dixons Academies Trust at the end of 2022, when it opened as a new school under the trust. New leaders have established an accurate understanding of the school’s provision, prioritised improvement work well and created a culture in which staff feel supported and pupils feel safe, valued and proud to belong. The school serves a highly disadvantaged community, with a well-above-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and a high level of local deprivation, and leaders are clearly focused on raising aspirations and improving life chances. The headline strengths are leadership and governance, which are strong, and the quality of education, which is now broadly secure. The curriculum is broad and logically sequenced, pupils typically behave well, and support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is carefully built into daily practice. Personal development, enrichment and careers guidance are also positive, and safeguarding standards are met. Pupils’ attendance has improved very quickly from a very low starting point, although too many pupils, including some vulnerable pupils, still do not attend regularly. The main concern is achievement. Outcomes in national examinations at the end of key stage 4 remain well below national averages, reflecting long-standing gaps in pupils’ knowledge, although there are early signs of improvement in 2025 and current pupils are generally making positive progress through the curriculum. Leaders’ next steps rightly focus on quickly addressing older pupils’ knowledge gaps and continuing to reduce barriers to attendance so that more pupils attend school regularly.

Strengths

• Leadership has driven a rapid and widely recognised transformation since the school joined the trust.
• Leaders use an accurate understanding of provision to prioritise improvement and monitor impact rigorously.
• A highly effective professional learning programme is tailored to staff needs and supports wellbeing and workload.
• Pupils benefit from calm, orderly routines and generally respectful, attentive behaviour.
• The curriculum is broad, logically sequenced and has raised expectations, including a high proportion of pupils studying the English Baccalaureate suite.
• Staff are knowledgeable and typically adapt teaching well to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils is carefully aligned to school priorities and monitored closely.
• Personal development, enrichment and careers guidance help pupils develop confidence, resilience and ambitious next steps.

Areas for Improvement

• Pupils’ achievement in national examinations at the end of key stage 4 remains well below national averages.
• Too many pupils, including some vulnerable pupils, still do not attend school as often as they should.
• Persistent absence remains well above the national average, despite recent improvements.
• Older pupils still have significant gaps in foundational knowledge, such as reading and number facts.
• Some aspects of the careers programme, including work experience opportunities, are still being developed.

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 Dixons Croxteth Academy attended 86.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 39.7% 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, 35.1% of pupils at Dixons Croxteth Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 7 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 Dixons Croxteth Academy had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.1% 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, 27.8% of pupils at Dixons Croxteth Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.1% 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 Dixons Croxteth Academy received £10,461 and spent £10,496 for each of its 409 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £255,000 (£623 per pupil).

Across all 21 schools of Dixons Academies Trust, income was £8,572 and spending £8,488 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 Liverpool · Liverpool local authority: places and applications

Dixons Croxteth Academy is part of Dixons Academies Trust, which runs 21 schools. The nearest others:

• Dixons Fazakerley Academy Liverpool
• Dixons Broadgreen Academy Liverpool
• Dixons Brooklands Academy Manchester
• Dixons Newall Green Academy Manchester
• Dixons Middleton Academy Manchester
• Dixons Ashton Academy Ashton-Under-Lyne
• Dixons Silver Springs Primary Stalybridge
• Dixons Pennine Academy Stalybridge
• Dixons Allerton Academy Bradford
• Dixons Kings Academy Bradford

What is Dixons Croxteth Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Dixons Croxteth Academy is Needs attention, from an inspection in February 2026.

When was Dixons Croxteth Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Dixons Croxteth Academy was last inspected in February 2026.

How many pupils does Dixons Croxteth Academy have?

Dixons Croxteth Academy has 436 pupils on roll.

What age range does Dixons Croxteth Academy cover?

Dixons Croxteth Academy for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Dixons Croxteth Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 35.0, and 26% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Dixons Croxteth Academy?

Dixons Croxteth Academy is at Carr Lane East, Croxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, L11 4SG.