SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Shrewsbury, Shropshire

The Thomas Adams School

Lowe Hill, Wem, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 5UB

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01939237000

Ofsted

Goodas at 13 September 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 13 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

43.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

36% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

62% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

52% 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

-0.50confidence interval -0.69 to -0.30

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
32.2

England average 32.3

A level students
69

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1214
Places
1336
How full
91% full — 1214 of 1336 places taken
Girls / boys
645 / 569
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
21%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
19%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
5%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
77%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
25%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
204

After sixth form

Went to university
48%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
98

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

30% 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
66%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
79

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 008C, 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
18%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
80%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
6%

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
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Boarding school
Trust
THE 3-18 EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Mark Cooper
Local authority
Shropshire
Ward
Wem
Constituency
North Shropshire
URN
147508

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The Corbet SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 47.2 6.8 mi
Ellesmere CollegeOther independent school No grade 7.2 mi
Sir John Talbot's SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 46.8 7.2 mi
Lakelands AcademyAcademy converter No grade 43.1 7.8 mi
Adcote School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 8.4 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
The Burgess Hill AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 44.6
Rainford High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 50.6
Alderman Peel High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 45.4
Millom SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 44.9
Oakwood SchoolCommunity school No grade 43
Dene Magna and Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 52.6
Ridgewood SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.5
Bishop's Hatfield Girls' SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 51.9

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.