SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Oswestry, Shropshire

The Marches School

Morda Road, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 2AR

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01691664400

Ofsted

Goodas at 26 September 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 26 September 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

43.1 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

39% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

62% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

53% 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

-0.29confidence interval -0.48 to -0.10

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
33.4

England average 32.3

A level students
85

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1346
Places
1500
How full
90% full — 1346 of 1500 places taken
Girls / boys
664 / 682
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
21%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
13%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
89%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
75%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
37%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
253

After sixth form

Went to university
44%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
10%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
108

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

24% 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
69%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
96

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 Shropshire 007B, 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
43%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
10%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
77%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
3%

England 17%

Households with no car
17%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
47%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
MARCHES ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Sally Wilmot
Local authority
Shropshire
Ward
Oswestry South
Constituency
North Shropshire
URN
136979

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Oswestry SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.2 mi
Moreton Hall SchoolOther independent school No grade 4.3 mi
St Martins School (3-16 Learning Community)Academy sponsor led Good 2023 36.4 4.9 mi
Lakelands AcademyAcademy converter No grade 43.1 7.5 mi
Ellesmere CollegeOther independent school No grade 7.7 mi
Adcote School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 10.1 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
Cove SchoolFoundation school No grade 42.7
The Belvedere AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 53.8
The Littlehampton AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 37.2
Holyrood AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 42.4
Somervale Secondary SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 45
Wellacre Technology AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 46
West Hill SchoolAcademy converter No grade 43.5
The Maplesden Noakes SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 39.6

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.