Noadswood School

About Noadswood School

Noadswood School sits within the Hampshire local authority, a secondary school in the New Forest that serves pupils aged 11 to 16. In the local landscape of state secondaries, it ranks 5th out of 10 schools in the New Forest district, placing it in the middle of the pack. The top-performing peers in the area, based on Progress 8 scores, are Sparsholt College Hampshire, Lift Winton, and Thornden School, all of which post stronger academic outcomes. Noadswood is a mixed, non-denominational school with no sixth form, and its headteacher is Kathryn Marshall. The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 278 applications for 215 places, with 213 first-preference offers made. That oversubscription ratio of 1.29 suggests a solid local reputation, even if its academic ranking doesn't place it among the very top tier in the New Forest.

Academically, Noadswood's most recent published results from the 2023/24 year show a Progress 8 score of -0.34, which is below the national average and also below the Hampshire local authority average of -0.17. The school's Attainment 8 score sits at 45.2, and 46.7% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths (the basics95 measure). The EBacc entry rate is low at 7.6%, with only 4.3% of pupils achieving the EBacc at grade 5 or above. In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, the school was judged to remain Good, a rating it has held consistently since at least 2013. The 2022 ungraded inspection confirmed no change in overall effectiveness, with leadership and management also rated Good. Compared with its previous graded inspection in 2013, the school has maintained its Good rating, though the Progress 8 data suggests there is room for improvement relative to other schools in the area.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including an astro turf, swimming pool, music rooms, tennis courts, a sports hall, and a library, plus a chapel on site. Sports provision is extensive, with cricket, basketball, martial arts, hockey, athletics, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, rugby, and rowing all available. Clubs include Young Enterprise, film club, coding, debate, eco club, newspaper, and art club. SEND support is well-developed, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulties. With 21.9% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a relatively diverse intake. Noadswood suits families in the New Forest who want a well-resourced, inclusive secondary with strong extracurricular options, and who are comfortable with academic results that sit below the local average.

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