Its first report card since 2022 rates personal development exceptional and the other five areas strong. GCSE pass rate 68.5%, against 45.4% nationally.
Ofsted has rated one of Alcester Academy’s six evaluation areas “exceptional” and the other five at the “strong standard”, the second-highest grade available. The report was published on 17 September 2026, from an inspection on 7 July. Alcester is about seven miles west of Stratford-upon-Avon.
The report is the school’s first under the report card framework, which replaced single-word judgements such as “good” and “outstanding”. There is no overall grade any more. Each area is graded on a five-point scale: exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement.
The grades for Alcester Academy, an 11 to 16 school on Gerard Road with 632 pupils, are:
- Personal development and wellbeing: exceptional
- Achievement: strong standard
- Attendance and behaviour: strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: strong standard
- Inclusion: strong standard
- Leadership and governance: strong standard
Safeguarding standards are met.
Ofsted defines “exceptional” as practice “of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.” It defines the strong standard as a school where “leaders are working above the standard expected of them”.
What earned the top grade
The exceptional grade went to personal development and wellbeing. Inspectors singled out careers work: the offer begins in Year 7, includes work experience and local employer engagement, and extends to pupils who have already left after Year 11. The report says the Gatsby benchmarks, the national standard for careers guidance, “are met exceptionally well”.
On the personal development curriculum, which runs through tutor time, discrete lessons, drop-down days and the wider curriculum, inspectors wrote that “provision is exceptionally well-designed, sequenced and age appropriate”, and noted that leaders had updated it to strengthen its focus on sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion.
The lead inspector was Debbie Tremble, His Majesty’s Inspector, with three team inspectors. The headteacher is Sarah Mellors and the chair of governors is Mike Dean.
The numbers behind the grades
Ofsted publishes the data it used. The school is small for a secondary: 632 pupils against a national average of 1,067 for its phase, in a building with capacity for 650.
On results, in 2024/25:
- 68.5% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE, against a national average of 45.4%
- Attainment 8 was 54.0, against 46.1 nationally
- Progress 8 in 2023/24 was 0.65, against minus 0.03 nationally
- Overall absence was 6.0%, against 8.4% nationally
- Persistent absence was 14.7%, against 23.4% nationally
The most striking figure is for disadvantaged pupils. In 2024/25, 57.1% of them achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths. The national average for disadvantaged pupils is 25.8%. More to the point, the national figure for pupils who are not disadvantaged is 53.1%, so Alcester Academy’s disadvantaged pupils were 4.0 percentage points ahead of that. The year before, they were 24.6 points behind it.
One year is one cohort, and at a school this size a single year group can move the figure a long way. The 2023/24 result was below the national non-disadvantaged figure by almost 25 points. Ofsted’s inclusion section credits leaders with “effective systems to support disadvantaged pupils”, monitoring progress, attendance and participation in enrichment to spot when more help is needed.
Just under 22% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years, below the national average of 28.9%. The proportion with an education, health and care plan, 3.64%, and with SEN support, 13.61%, are both close to national. Ofsted classes the school’s location as well below average for deprivation.
What Ofsted wants improved
The report card carries a single next step: “senior leaders should strengthen the contribution of leaders at all levels to strategic improvement so the quality of the school’s work continues to improve.” That is a point about middle leadership rather than about teaching or safeguarding.
How this compares with 2022
The school’s previous inspection, on 19 and 20 January 2022, gave an overall effectiveness grade of good, with quality of education good and behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management all outstanding.
The two sets of grades are not directly comparable. The 2022 report judged four areas plus an overall grade on a four-point scale; the 2026 report card judges six areas on a five-point scale and gives no overall grade. What can be said is that personal development was the school’s strongest area on both occasions.
What it means for you
- If you are choosing a secondary school, the report card is the current record, and it is free to read in full on the Ofsted website. Warwickshire County Council runs secondary admissions for the area. Applications for entry in September 2027 opened on 1 September 2026 and close at 4pm on 31 October 2026, with offers on 1 March 2027.
- If your child is already there, no evaluation area was graded below the strong standard, and Ofsted recorded the safeguarding standards as met.
- If you are comparing schools, look at Progress 8 as well as the pass rate. It measures how far pupils move on from their primary results, and it is less affected by intake than a raw percentage.
- The school has capacity for 650 and had 632 pupils at inspection, so places are not plentiful.
- If you are moving to the area for it, our Stratford-on-Avon house prices page carries the district average and how it splits by property type.
Our other Alcester coverage includes the town’s neighbourhood plan consultation.
Sources: Ofsted inspection report for Alcester Academy, URN 137172, inspected 7 July 2026 and published 17 September 2026, with the school and pupil context data published alongside it; and the Ofsted inspection report of 19 and 20 January 2022.
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