Oasis Academy Arena

About Oasis Academy Arena

Oasis Academy Arena is a secondary school in Croydon that, despite a Requires Improvement rating from Ofsted in 2023, is notably oversubscribed. For 2025/26 entry, the school received 112 applications for just 35 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.2. Only 18 of those applications were first preferences, meaning the majority of applicants listed the school lower down their choices, yet demand still far outstrips capacity. This suggests that for families who know the school well, it holds real appeal. The school does not publish a Parent View survey result, so we can't draw on that specific satisfaction metric, but the raw application numbers tell their own story: parents are actively choosing this school, even if it isn't always their top pick.

Academically, the school's performance sits below the local average. Its Progress 8 score for 2023/24 was -0.5, compared with the Croydon local authority average of -0.04, placing it 19th out of 22 secondary schools in the borough. The Attainment 8 score was 35.2, and 31.9% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths. The EBacc average point score was 3.32, with 8% achieving the full EBacc at grade 5 or above. In its most recent Ofsted inspection, inspectors rated behaviour and attitudes and personal development as Good, while quality of education and leadership and management were judged as Requires Improvement. This is an improvement on the previous inspection in 2019, where all categories were Requires Improvement, so there is a clear upward trajectory in the school's culture and pastoral care, even if academic outcomes still need to catch up.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a swimming pool, gymnasium, sports hall, science labs, art studios, and a library, plus clubs covering drama, eco, newspaper, art, and science. Sports on offer include gymnastics, football, rugby, cricket, and athletics. SEND provision is broad, covering dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, SEMH, speech and language, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder, with a resourced provision on site. With 52.2% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a significantly disadvantaged intake. Oasis Academy Arena is a good fit for families who value a school that is actively working on improvement, where behaviour is already strong, and where the community feel is clearly valued by local parents despite the academic challenges.

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