Silverstone UTC

About Silverstone UTC

Silverstone UTC is a state-funded secondary school in West Northamptonshire, serving students aged 14 to 19. It sits at the bottom of the local league table for Progress 8, ranked 22nd out of 22 schools of the same type in the local authority. For context, the top-performing peers in the area are Northampton School for Boys, Northampton Academy, and Wootton Park School, all of which recorded significantly higher Progress 8 scores. The school is led by headteacher Angela Murphy and has a capacity of 550, with 480 pupils currently on roll. Just over 18% of students are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average. The school has no religious character and operates as a University Technical College, meaning its curriculum is designed to blend academic study with technical and vocational learning. It also has its own official sixth form, making it a single-site option for students looking to continue from Year 11 into post-16 education.

Academically, Silverstone UTC’s most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2023 rated the school as Requires Improvement overall, a rating it has held since its previous graded inspection in 2019. However, there were some bright spots: behaviour and attitudes, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision were all rated Good. The school’s Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year was -1.28, well below the local authority average of 0.05, and placed it in the bottom 50 nationally. Attainment 8 stood at 34.4, and just 23.1% of students achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths. At A-level, the school’s value-added score was -0.41, with an average points per entry of 20.88, equivalent to a D grade. The sixth form was judged to be performing below average in terms of progress. Only 31 students were included in the sixth-form results, reflecting a relatively small post-16 cohort.

The school offers a wide range of facilities, including a library, sixth-form centre, tennis courts, astro turf, swimming pool, art studios, and music rooms. Sports on offer include rugby, basketball, gymnastics, cricket, swimming, rounders, cross country, tennis, netball, and athletics. There is also a decent selection of clubs, such as Book Club, Young Enterprise, Chess, DofE, Art Club, and Debate. For students with additional needs, the school provides support for a broad spectrum of SEND categories, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language needs, visual impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. The school is oversubscribed by 70 places relative to its capacity, which suggests it is a popular choice locally, despite its academic challenges. It will suit families who value a technical and vocational curriculum from age 14, with a strong sixth-form offer, and who are comfortable with a school that is still working to improve its academic outcomes.

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