Samuel Whitbread Academy
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · Central Bedfordshire
Shefford Road, Shefford, SG17 5QS
67
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
98%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
89.4%
27.5% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,657
Capacity used
Over capacity100%
1,650 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
98%
1st preference success rate
354 of 362 families who put it first got an offer
356
Places offered
409
Total applications
1.1
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 362 | 354 | ● 98% |
| 2nd preference | 32 | 2 | ● 6% |
| 3rd preference | 15 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 409 | 356 | 87% |
1st preference success by year
Central Bedfordshire lets families list 3 preferences. Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 13–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Nicholas Martin
- Address
- Shefford Road, Clifton, Shefford, SG17 5QS
- Phone
- 01462629900
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward / constituency
- Clifton, Henlow & Langford · Hitchin
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 137948
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 13% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 2% | — | — |
| SEN support | 10% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 1 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: BEDFORDSHIRE SCHOOLS TRUST LIMITED
1,657 pupils · 1,650 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 23
03 March 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,229 pupils
Attendance
89.4%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
10.6%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
27.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
5.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.7%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 47.1 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.13 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 51% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 70% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 3.99 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 33.51 | — | — |
Average grade: C+ (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 46.7 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 48% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 72.7% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 11.6% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.87 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 396 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 35.94 | 35 |
| Average grade | B- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 18.8% | 17% |
| A-level students | 181 | — |
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 389 | 16% | 58% | 81% | |
| English Language | 389 | 16% | 53% | 76% | |
| English Literature | 388 | 14% | 54% | 73% | |
| Combined Science | 302 | 3% | 35% | 58% | |
| History | 217 | 27% | 53% | 65% | |
| Geography | 199 | 17% | 50% | 62% | |
| Social Studies | 184 | 21% | 59% | 72% | |
| Food Preparation & Nutrition | 107 | 36% | 76% | 81% | |
| Business | 105 | 30% | 67% | 79% | |
| Biology | 85 | 39% | 93% | 96% | |
| Physics | 83 | 30% | 92% | 100% | |
| Religious Studies | 83 | 28% | 77% | 87% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Studies | 61 | 8% | 28% | 62% | |
| Mathematics | 53 | 21% | 38% | 57% | |
| Geography | 47 | 0% | 13% | 53% | |
| Psychology | 33 | 9% | 30% | 61% | |
| Biology | 28 | 11% | 21% | 29% | |
| Sociology | 25 | 4% | 12% | 68% | |
| Physics | 22 | 18% | 50% | 59% | |
| History | 20 | 0% | 15% | 60% | |
| English Language and Literature | 20 | 0% | 0% | 10% | |
| Film Studies | 19 | 0% | 0% | 58% | |
| Computer Science | 17 | 0% | 12% | 47% | |
| English Literature | 13 | 8% | 23% | 62% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 15418: Samuel Whitbread Academy
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | 6 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | ≤5 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 53% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 10% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 54% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Central Bedfordshire council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.