SF School Facts UK

Boys secondary school in Northampton, West Northamptonshire

Northampton School for Boys

Billing Road, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN1 5RT

Sixth form Boys Full
School website 01604230240

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 11 March 2025.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

58.2 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

72% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

86% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

76% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 10% of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.95confidence interval 0.76 to 1.14

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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
B
Average points per entry
40.1

England average 32.3

A level students
252

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1756
Places
1617
How full
Full — 1756 pupils against 1617 places
Girls / boys
220 / 1536
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
8%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
11%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
17%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
96%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
69%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
213

After sixth form

Went to university
67%

England 50%

In education, work or training
92%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
232

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

46% 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
83%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
251

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 034C, 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
36%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
19%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
88%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
5%

England 17%

Households with no car
13%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
48%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE NSB TRUST
Headteacher
Headmaster: Richard Bernard
Local authority
West Northamptonshire
Ward
Castle
Constituency
Northampton South
URN
136299

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Oneschool Global Uk, Northampton CampusOther independent school No grade 1.1 mi
Northampton International AcademyFree schools No grade 36.4 1.4 mi
Bosworth Independent SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.4 mi
Malcolm Arnold AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 41.4 1.5 mi
Weston Favell AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 41.8 1.6 mi
Northampton School for GirlsAcademy converter No grade 54.9 1.8 mi
Northampton AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2023 52.1 1.9 mi
St Thomas Becket Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 38.7 2.1 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
South Craven SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47.5
Plantsbrook SchoolAcademy converter No grade 51.8
Shenfield High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 45.3
Seaford Head SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 49.4
The Windsor Boys' SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47.8
Bradon Forest SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 48.1
St Philip Howard Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.5
St Peter's Church of England Aided SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 53

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.