Wixams Academy
Secondary · Free schools · Mixed · Bedford
Green Lane, Bedford, MK42 6BA
66
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Requires improvement
Graded 05/03/2024
Application demand
99%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
90.1%
27.9% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
903
Capacity used
Has space52%
1,750 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
99%
1st preference success rate
131 of 132 families who put it first got an offer
145
Places offered
188
Total applications
1.3
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 132 | 131 | ● 99% |
| 2nd preference | 38 | 8 | ● 21% |
| 3rd preference | 18 | 1 | ● 6% |
| Total | 188 | 140 | 74% |
1st preference success by year
Bedford lets families list 4 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
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Nathaniel Wilson
- Address
- Green Lane, Wixams, Bedford, MK42 6BA
- Phone
- 01234608950
- Local authority
- Bedford
- Ward / constituency
- Wixams & Wilstead · Mid Bedfordshire
- Area
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 144595
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 23% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 17% | — | — |
| SEN support | 12% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 2 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: KNOWLEDGE SCHOOLS TRUST
903 pupils · 1,750 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 26
03 March 2026
S5 Inspection · report card
Inclusion Needs attention Achievement Expected standard Safeguarding standards Met Curriculum and teaching Expected standard Attendance and behaviour Needs attention Leadership and governance Expected standard Early years Not applicable Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard Post-16 provision Expected standard - 24
05 March 2024
Full graded inspection
Requires improvement overall effectivenessSixth form Good Personal development Good Quality of education Requires improvement Safeguarding effective Yes Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Leadership and management Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 896 pupils
Attendance
90.1%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
9.9%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
27.9%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
4.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
4.2%
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 | 46.1 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.23 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 50% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 70% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.08 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 25.30 | — | — |
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 | 47.5 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 52.4% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 73.8% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 51.2% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.25 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 168 | — |
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 | 25.05 | 35 |
| Average grade | C- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 4% | 17% |
| A-level students | 39 | — |
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 | 167 | 16% | 58% | 78% | |
| English Language | 167 | 23% | 59% | 73% | |
| English Literature | 166 | 17% | 60% | 81% | |
| Combined Science | 133 | 1% | 26% | 52% | |
| Spanish | 97 | 19% | 41% | 60% | |
| History | 85 | 32% | 68% | 78% | |
| Business | 58 | 17% | 59% | 71% | |
| Physical Education | 55 | 11% | 51% | 64% | |
| Geography | 53 | 21% | 51% | 62% | |
| Food Preparation & Nutrition | 43 | 12% | 58% | 74% | |
| Design & Technology | 37 | 16% | 35% | 54% | |
| Biology | 33 | 33% | 88% | 100% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 12 | 8% | 8% | 17% | |
| Business Studies | 11 | 9% | 9% | 18% | |
| Economics | 10 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Sociology | 9 | 0% | 0% | 22% | |
| Psychology | 8 | 0% | 13% | 38% | |
| Law | 6 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| Biology | 6 | 0% | 0% | 33% | |
| Fine Art | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| English Literature | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Design and Technology (Product Design) | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Chemistry | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Computer Science | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
No Cambridge offers this year
UCAS apply centre 20594: Wixams Academy
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | 0 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
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.
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 Bedford council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
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.