SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Northampton, West Northamptonshire

Malcolm Arnold Academy

Trinity Avenue, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN2 6JW

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Church of England
School website 01604778000

Ofsted

Goodas at 8 November 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 8 November 2023.

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

41.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

38% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

58% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

37% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

0.04confidence interval -0.15 to 0.23

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
31.1

England average 32.3

A level students
30

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1278
Places
1450
How full
88% full — 1278 of 1450 places taken
Girls / boys
572 / 706
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
24%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
25%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
36%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
90%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
83%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
26%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
229

After sixth form

Went to university
57%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
65

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

14% 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
71%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
65

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 West Northamptonshire 025B, 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
28%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
24%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
48%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
23%

England 17%

Households with no car
28%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
38%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE DAVID ROSS EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Principal: Clare Berry
Local authority
West Northamptonshire
Ward
Kingsley & Semilong
Constituency
Northampton North
URN
136201

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Bosworth Independent SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.5 mi
Northampton International AcademyFree schools No grade 36.4 0.7 mi
Northampton School for GirlsAcademy converter No grade 54.9 1.1 mi
Kingsthorpe CollegeAcademy converter No grade 39.6 1.2 mi
Northampton School for BoysAcademy converter No grade 58.2 1.5 mi
St Thomas Becket Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 38.7 1.6 mi
Weston Favell AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 41.8 1.9 mi
Oneschool Global Uk, Northampton CampusOther independent school No grade 2.2 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
Cardinal Newman Catholic SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 50.4
Barr Beacon SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 51
Southfield School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2023 46.8
Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary AcademyAcademy converter No grade 48.1
Notre Dame High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 52.8
Caludon Castle SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 46.5
St Thomas More Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47
Ruislip High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 54.1

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.