SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Bicester, Oxfordshire

The Bicester School

Queen's Avenue, Bicester, Oxfordshire, OX26 2NS

Ofsted Good · 2024 Sixth form
School website 01869243331

Ofsted

Goodas at 12 March 2024

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 12 March 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

47.9 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

49% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

65% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

45% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the upper half 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 bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.16confidence interval -0.33 to 0.02

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
30.3

England average 32.3

A level students
60

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1176
Places
1430
How full
82% full — 1176 of 1430 places taken
Girls / boys
615 / 561
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
22%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
20%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
15%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
19%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
92%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
80%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
35%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
254

After sixth form

Went to university
51%

England 50%

In education, work or training
92%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
11%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
65

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

10% 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
61%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
71

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 Cherwell 014A, 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
24%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
25%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
55%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
32%

England 17%

Households with no car
26%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
35%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
ACTIVATE LEARNING EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Sam Knowlton
Local authority
Oxfordshire
Ward
Bicester West
Constituency
Bicester and Woodstock
URN
142024

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The Cooper SchoolAcademy converter No grade 41.7 0.8 mi
Whitelands AcademyFree schools Good 2023 46.4 0.8 mi
Bruern Abbey SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.4 mi
Heyford Park SchoolFree schools Good 2023 39.7 4.3 mi
Gosford Hill SchoolAcademy converter No grade 45.3 7.7 mi
Oxford Montessori SchoolsOther independent school No grade 7.7 mi
The Marlborough Church of England SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 55.4 8.5 mi
d'Overbroeck'sOther independent school No grade 9.4 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
Yateley SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 47.8
Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 59.3
Maidstone Grammar School for GirlsFoundation school Outstanding 2023 66.4
Congleton High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 44.8
Ripley St Thomas Church of England AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 50.7
Dallam SchoolAcademy converter No grade 44.1
Burnham Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 70.1
Nailsea SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 52.6

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.