SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Melksham, Wiltshire

Melksham Oak Community School

Bowerhill, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 6QZ

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form
School website 01225792700

Ofsted

Goodas at 4 October 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 4 October 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 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

31% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

64% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

56% 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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.32confidence interval -0.50 to -0.13

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
26.5

England average 32.3

A level students
55

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1058
Places
1427
How full
74% full — 1058 of 1427 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
545 / 513
Overall absence
11%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
29%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
24%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
4%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
5%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
85%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
27%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
201

After sixth form

Went to university
41%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
64

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

18% 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
63%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
60

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 Wiltshire 021I, 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
31%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
12%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
88%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
3%

England 17%

Households with no car
4%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
30%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE WHITE HORSE FEDERATION
Headteacher
Headteacher: David Cooper
Local authority
Wiltshire
Ward
Bowerhill
Constituency
Melksham and Devizes
URN
146344

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Emmaus SchoolOther independent school No grade 4 mi
Stonar SchoolOther independent school No grade 4.7 mi
St Augustine's Catholic CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 51.4 5.3 mi
The John of Gaunt SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 44.3 5.3 mi
The Clarendon AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 39.8 5.5 mi
The Corsham SchoolAcademy converter No grade 47.5 5.7 mi
Devizes SchoolAcademy converter No grade 45.3 5.7 mi
St Laurence SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 54.5 6.1 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
Leytonstone SchoolCommunity school No grade 49
Elthorne Park High SchoolCommunity school No grade 57.2
West Park SchoolAcademy converter No grade 48.7
Mill Hill County High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 61.2
Allestree Woodlands SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 46.5
Christ's Church of England Comprehensive Secondary SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 57
Bodmin CollegeAcademy converter No grade 46
Leigh Academy MascallsAcademy converter No grade 40.4

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.