Ormiston Sudbury Academy

About Ormiston Sudbury Academy

Ormiston Sudbury Academy’s headline Progress 8 score of -0.3 places it below the Suffolk local authority average of -0.17 for secondary schools, meaning pupils here make less academic progress between Year 7 and Year 11 than their peers across the county. The school ranks 29th out of 48 similar schools in Suffolk, putting it in the bottom half of the local authority. Its Progress 8 banding is officially classed as ‘Below average’, and the school sits 4th out of 5 schools in the Babergh district. The weakest subject area is maths, where the Progress 8 score drops to -0.5, while English is closer to the average at -0.18. On the positive side, the school’s Attainment 8 score of 41.3 suggests that while progress is below par, students are still achieving a reasonable set of GCSE results overall. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is 32.9%, well above the national average, which provides important context for these outcomes.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, the school received an overall rating of Requires Improvement, a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2014. The inspection found that the quality of education and leadership and management both require improvement, but behaviour and attitudes, and personal development, were both rated Good. At GCSE level, 59.3% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though this drops to 31.7% when looking at the stronger grade 5 benchmark. The EBacc average point score is 3.32, and only 8.1% of pupils entered the EBacc combination of subjects, with just 3.3% achieving a grade 5 or above in it. The school has a sixth form, though no separate Ofsted rating was published for it in the 2023 inspection. Nationally, the school ranks in the bottom 30% of schools for Progress 8, sitting at the 71st percentile.

The school is oversubscribed for Year 7 entry in 2025/26, with 192 applications for 136 places and 117 first-preference offers made, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.41. Facilities are strong for a state school and include a swimming pool, theatre, astro turf, tennis courts, and a sixth form centre. The school offers a range of sports including swimming, cricket, netball, and martial arts, plus clubs such as Model UN, Young Enterprise, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, and physical disabilities. This is a school that suits families who value a broad extracurricular offer and strong facilities, but who are realistic about the academic challenges — the data suggests a school working to improve outcomes from a low base, particularly in maths.

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