Southfield School for Girls

About Southfield School for Girls

Southfield School for Girls sits below the local authority average for Progress 8, with a score of -0.23 compared to the North Northamptonshire average of -0.02. That places it 13th out of 21 secondary schools in the area, putting it in the bottom half of the LA table and the bottom 50% nationally. The gap is modest but consistent across most subject buckets: pupils make slightly less progress than peers elsewhere in the county, particularly in open subjects and maths. The school’s Attainment 8 score of 46.2 is reasonable, and 66.7% of pupils achieve a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though that drops to 45.6% at grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score of 4.33 and the fact that nearly 60% of pupils enter the EBacc suggest a broad curriculum is on offer, even if the outcomes don’t yet match the strongest local performers.

Ofsted visited in 2023 and rated the school Good overall, with two standout areas: personal development and sixth-form provision both earned Outstanding. That’s a notable upgrade from the previous inspection in 2016, where sixth-form provision was only Good. Behaviour and attitudes, leadership, and quality of education all came out as Good. At A-level, the picture is more mixed: the school’s value-added score of -0.55 is rated Below average, with an average points per entry of 25.85 (roughly a C- grade). Only 2.2% of entries achieved AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects. For a girls’ school with a large sixth form of 99 pupils, the academic stretch at KS5 is clearly an area to watch, though the Outstanding sixth-form Ofsted grade suggests the wider experience is strong.

The school is significantly oversubscribed: for 2025/26, 287 applications were received for 148 places, with 113 first-preference offers made — a ratio of nearly 2:1. That level of demand suggests it’s a popular choice locally, despite the middling Progress 8. Facilities are generous, including a swimming pool, astro turf, tennis courts, and a dedicated sixth-form centre. There’s a wide range of clubs and sports on offer, from rowing to Model UN, and the SEND provision covers ten categories including autism, dyslexia, and physical disabilities. This is a school that suits families who value a strong pastoral and extracurricular offer over headline exam scores, and who are happy with solid but not outstanding academic progress through to GCSE, with a sixth form that Ofsted rates as excellent in provision even if the results haven’t yet caught up.

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