Ken Stimpson Academy

About Ken Stimpson Academy

Ken Stimpson Academy’s Progress 8 score of -0.24 places it well below the Peterborough local authority average of 0.03, a gap that marks it as one of the weaker performers in the area. Ranked 10th out of 12 secondary schools in Peterborough, it sits in the bottom half of the local table, and nationally it falls in the 67th percentile among 3,141 schools. This is a school where, on average, pupils make less academic progress than their peers across the LA, and the data suggests this is a consistent pattern rather than a one-off blip. The school’s attainment 8 score of 39.5 and its EBacc average point score of 3.27 both reflect this below-average standing. For parents comparing options, the headline metrics are a clear signal that Ken Stimpson is not an academic outlier in a positive sense, and the challenge is to understand what it does offer instead.

The most recent Ofsted inspection in October 2022 rated the school Requires Improvement overall, a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2016. The inspection found that quality of education, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management all require improvement, though the sixth form provision was judged Good. On the academic front, the school’s Progress 8 banding is ‘Below average’, with particularly weak progress in English (-0.35) and open subjects (-0.29), while maths progress is close to the national average at 0.07. At KS5, the value added score is -0.2, with a progress banding of Average, and the average points per entry grade is C-. Only 5.8% of pupils achieved the EBacc at grade 5 or above, and just 12% entered the EBacc suite of subjects. These figures paint a picture of a school that struggles to lift pupil outcomes above the local norm, especially in core academic areas.

Ken Stimpson is a mixed, non-faith secondary with a sixth form, serving 1,051 pupils against a capacity of 1,180. It is oversubscribed: for 2025/26, there were 247 applications for 121 places, with 96 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.04. This suggests local demand remains strong despite the Ofsted rating. The school offers a broad range of facilities including art studios, science labs, a library, music rooms, tennis courts, and a sixth form centre. Its sports provision is extensive, covering tennis, athletics, gymnastics, martial arts, swimming, cricket, hockey, rowing, and cross country. Clubs include orchestra, chess, choir, Young Enterprise, Model UN, and debate. SEND provision is comprehensive, covering dyslexia, moderate to severe learning difficulties, SEMH, speech and language needs, multi-sensory impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that may suit families who value a wide extracurricular offer and strong SEND support over headline academic performance, and who are willing to engage with a school in a period of transition.

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