Oakley School

About Oakley School

Oakley School, a mixed state secondary in Warwick, holds an Ofsted rating that reflects a school still finding its feet academically. In its most recent inspection, the school was graded Requires Improvement overall, a rating that places it among a minority in Warwickshire, where seven out of 42 similar schools are rated Outstanding. The most telling metric is the school’s Progress 8 score, which sits below the local authority average of 0.02. This figure measures how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and their GCSEs compared with peers across England, and Oakley’s score suggests that, on average, students leave with lower results than might be expected given their starting points. The school’s headteacher, Sarah Kaye, leads a relatively small roll of 377 pupils against a capacity of 1,354, meaning the school is significantly under-enrolled. That spare capacity, combined with the Ofsted rating, may be a factor in the school’s high oversubscription ratio — 3.06 applicants per place — though it is worth noting that only 153 of 188 first-preference families received an offer for the 2025/26 intake.

Academically, the data points to a school where outcomes are a clear area for development. The Progress 8 score, which is negative and below the Warwickshire average of 0.02, indicates that pupils are not making the same gains as their peers in other local schools. For context, the top-performing schools in the area — Stratford Girls’ Grammar School, Lawrence Sheriff School, and Alcester Academy — all post positive Progress 8 scores well above the LA norm. Oakley’s results in core subjects at GCSE are likely to be a concern for parents, though the school does not publish a breakdown of attainment 8 or EBacc entry rates in the available data. The school serves a relatively disadvantaged intake, with 27.1% of pupils eligible for free school meals, which is above the national average and may partly explain the lower progress scores. There is no sixth form attached to the school, so students must move on after Year 11, and the nursery provision means the school caters for children from age 0, though the secondary phase is the main focus.

On the practical side, Oakley School offers a broad range of facilities that belie its academic rating. There is a swimming pool, tennis courts, science labs, an ICT suite, a gymnasium, music rooms, a dining hall, and a sports hall, alongside clubs covering art, drama, coding, gardening, Model UN, and science. Sports provision includes tennis, martial arts, rugby, cricket, dance, swimming, and basketball. The school also has a substantial SEND offer, with provisions for dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language challenges, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes it a potentially strong choice for families whose children need additional support, especially given the school’s undersubscribed overall capacity — it has 377 pupils against a capacity of 1,354, meaning class sizes are likely small and individual attention more feasible. The oversubscription data, however, tells a more complicated story: 529 total applications for 173 places, with 153 first-preference offers, suggests strong local demand despite the Requires Improvement rating. This school may suit families who prioritise SEND support and a wide extracurricular offer over top-tier exam results, or those who live close enough to benefit from the nursery-to-secondary continuity.

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