The Open Academy

About The Open Academy

The Open Academy is a Church of England secondary school in Norwich, part of the Norfolk local authority, and it ranks 7th out of 8 schools in the city on Progress 8, placing it in the bottom half of Norwich’s secondary landscape. Among its local peers, the top performers are Hethersett Academy, Wayland Academy, and Notre Dame High School, Norwich, each with significantly higher Progress 8 scores. The school sits 45th out of 57 same-type schools across the wider Norfolk authority, and the nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Jane Austen College, 2.5 kilometres away. Headteacher Daniel Bagshaw leads a mixed, state-funded secondary with a sixth form, serving 560 pupils against a capacity of 750. The school has a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 39.4 per cent, well above the national average, and its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023 awarded a Good rating across all categories, a notable improvement from its previous Inadequate judgement in 2022.

Academically, the school’s Progress 8 score of -0.46 is classified as ‘Below average’ and sits below the Norfolk local authority average of -0.02. The Attainment 8 score is 34.9, and 52.5 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though only 20.8 per cent achieved a grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score is 3.12, with 71.3 per cent of pupils entering the EBacc combination but just 5 per cent achieving a grade 4 or above in it. In the sixth form, the school’s value added score is -0.75, rated ‘Well below average’, with an average points per entry of 15.62 (equivalent to a D- grade). The best three A-levels averaged an E+ grade, and no pupils achieved AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects. Progress in English and maths at KS4 shows a mixed picture: maths progress is close to average at 0.04, while English progress is weaker at -0.62.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including art studios, a theatre, swimming pool, astro turf, chapel, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports provision covers rugby, football, cricket, swimming, martial arts, and dance, while clubs include the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Model United Nations, and Young Enterprise. SEND support is well-developed, with provisions for specific learning difficulties, speech and language needs, hearing and visual impairments, autistic spectrum disorder, and a dedicated SEN unit. Admissions for 2025/26 show the school is oversubscribed: 240 applications for 100 places, with 110 first-preference applications and 96 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.4. This is a school that has made a clear improvement in its Ofsted rating and serves a high-needs community, but its academic outcomes remain below local averages, making it a realistic choice for families prioritising a supportive, inclusive environment over top-tier exam results.

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