SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Felixstowe, Suffolk

Felixstowe School

High Street, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 9QR

Ofsted Good · 2024 Sixth form
School website 01394288228

Ofsted

Goodas at 4 June 2024

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 4 June 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

38.5 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

27% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

49% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

34% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.48confidence interval -0.67 to -0.28

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as below average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C
Average points per entry
29.5

England average 32.3

A level students
29

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1169
Places
1500
How full
78% full — 1169 of 1500 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
583 / 586
Overall absence
12%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
34%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
27%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
88%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
80%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
41%
No sustained destination
9%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
205

After sixth form

Went to university
42%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
12%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
66

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

0% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
42%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
50

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for East Suffolk 029B, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
21%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
18%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
62%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
18%

England 17%

Households with no car
21%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
32%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP
Headteacher
Principal: Emma Wilson-Downes
Local authority
Suffolk
Ward
Western Felixstowe
Constituency
Suffolk Coastal
URN
137321

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Harwich and Dovercourt High SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 37.6 4.2 mi
Orwell Park SchoolOther independent school No grade 5.1 mi
Ipswich High SchoolOther independent school No grade 6.2 mi
Ipswich AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 37.6 7.3 mi
Kesgrave High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.7 7.5 mi
Holbrook AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 41.2 7.5 mi
Royal Hospital SchoolOther independent school No grade 7.8 mi
Copleston High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 46.9 8.1 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
St Ignatius CollegeVoluntary aided school No grade 54.8
Cressex Community SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 50.7
Lift TendringAcademy converter Good 2024 36.9
Passmores AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 34.8
Bedford Free SchoolFree schools No grade 46.5
Wrenn SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 40.9
Aureus SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 33.7
Charlton SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 42.7

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.