Bedford Academy
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 1,480 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.8
Academy converter
Wootton Academy
- Pupils on roll
- 822of 1,710 places
- Free school meals
- 18.9%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 285
- Ofsted
- School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next, 5 November 2024Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Wootton Upper School (URN 109710, until 1 October 2011).
What the data says
Of the 293 pupils who finished Year 11 at Wootton Academy in 2023, 39% stayed on in Wootton Academy’s own sixth form (Bedford average 39%), 44% went to a further education college and 6% started an apprenticeship.
Design and Technology is unusually popular at GCSE: 26% of the year group took it, against 11% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were in line with the national picture: Attainment 8 of 44.3 against 46.1 across England and 44.4 in Bedford, with 45% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Languages are a small part of the curriculum here: entries in Spanish and French add up to 17% of the year group, and 18% of pupils entered the full EBacc set of subjects (England 41%).
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Bedford and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Wootton Academy | Bedford | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 293 | 2,196 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 92% | 93% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 84% | 88% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 39% | 39% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | — | 13% |
| — further education college | 44% | 47% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 6% | 2% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 2% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 4% | 4% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 3% | 3% | 3% |
Where students went after sixth form
Destinations of students who finished 16–18 study in 2023, measured the following year.
No published destinations for sixth-form leavers yet.
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Wootton Academy | Bedford | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 44.3 | 44.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 45% | 44% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 65% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 18% | 38% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.81 | 3.89 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 20% | 24% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 33.3 | 34.6 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 47.0 | 47.3 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 7% | 26% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 283 | 99% | 89% | 15% | 20% | 73% |
| Mathematics | 283 | 99% | 88% | 17% | 22% | 68% |
| English Literature | 276 | 97% | 86% | 11% | 21% | 70% |
| Combined Science | 190 | 67% | 65% | 3% | 9% | 44% |
| Geography | 186 | 65% | 41% | 12% | 25% | 54% |
| History | 150 | 53% | 41% | 22% | 26% | 55% |
| Religious Studies | 126 | 44% | 31% | 23% | 32% | 67% |
| Biology | 91 | 32% | 23% | 31% | 45% | 93% |
| Chemistry | 91 | 32% | 23% | 27% | 47% | 92% |
| Physics | 91 | 32% | 23% | 22% | 46% | 87% |
| Design and Technology | 74 | 26% | 11% | 5% | 23% | 30% |
| Graphic Communication | 56 | 20% | 1% | 18% | 23% | 82% |
| Computer Science | 37 | 13% | 13% | 27% | 30% | 70% |
| Drama | 32 | 11% | 7% | 9% | 27% | 50% |
| Fine Art | 31 | 11% | 9% | 29% | 28% | 77% |
| Spanish | 25 | 9% | 19% | 20% | 27% | 40% |
| Dance | 25 | 9% | 1% | 16% | 27% | 68% |
| French | 24 | 8% | 18% | 38% | 29% | 79% |
| Music | 22 | 8% | 5% | 5% | 33% | 41% |
| Textiles | 20 | 7% | 2% | 10% | 27% | 90% |
| Arabic | 3 | 1% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
| Russian | 2 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Punjabi | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 48% | — |
| Polish | 1 | 0% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Studies | 97 | — | — |
| Multimedia | 92 | — | — |
| Childcare Skills | 61 | — | — |
| Computer Appreciation / Introduction | 41 | — | — |
| Additional Mathematics FSMQ | 8 | — | — |
Where Wootton Academy is
Other secondary schools in Bedford are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from Bedford’s allocation statistics.
Other secondary schools in Bedford
Bedford Free School
Free schools · 536 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.5
Biddenham International School and Sports College
Foundation school · sixth form · 1,422 pupils
91% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.1
Daubeney Academy
Academy converter · 576 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 38.5
Goldington Academy
Academy converter · 958 pupils
95% stayed in education · Attainment 8 54.3
Kempston Academy
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 773 pupils
80% stayed in education · Attainment 8 40.3
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.