SchoolFacts.uk

Arden

Secondary · Solihull · B93 0PT

⇄ Compare with another school
Good

Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system

This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.

Quality of education: GoodBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: GoodSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 14 June 2022

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

1,812 pupils · 122% of 1,490 capacity (over capacity)

School type
Academy converter
Age range
11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
12.4% of pupils
English as additional language
8.1% of pupils
SEN support
16.5% of pupils
EHC plan
1.3% of pupils
Sixth form
Yes
Website
http://www.arden.solihull.sch.uk/
URN
136333

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

0.97 first-choice applications per place

315 places offered · 307 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 3.04 miles

measured in a straight line.

Cutoff distance by entry year

21
25
26

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

GCSE results (2024/2025)

296 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
59.6
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
88.5%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
73.3%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
5.3
England 4.1

Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

A-level results (2024/2025)

A-level points per entry (England: 35 ≈ B-) B
39.5
England 35

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school59.6
Median of its 12 closest peers51.7
Solihull average46.6
England46.1

On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Horsforth SchoolLeeds · 101 miles awayGood57.3
Little Heath SchoolReading · 70 miles awayGood48.2
Harrogate Grammar SchoolHarrogate · 111 miles awayStrong standard56.6
John Port Spencer AcademyDerby · 35 miles awayGood51.4
Weald School, TheBillingshurst · 109 miles awayGood47.1
Tadcaster Grammar SchoolTadcaster · 105 miles awayGood50
Kenilworth School and Sixth FormKenilworth · 8 miles awayOutstanding57.4
The Ashcombe SchoolDorking · 99 miles awayGood57.1
Otley Prince Henry's Grammar School Specialist Language CollegeOtley · 106 miles awayOutstanding54.6
E-Act Ousedale SchoolNewport Pagnell · 47 miles awayGood49.4
Sponne SchoolTowcester · 36 miles awayGood52
Guiseley SchoolLeeds · 103 miles awayGood49.6

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
5.2%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
13.2%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
18.1
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

85% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 7% moved to another state school · 8% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£6,336
Typical secondary school£7,798

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where pupils go after GCSEs

In sustained education, work or training
95%
Continuing in education
90%
Apprenticeship
4%
Employment
1%

Where students go after sixth form

To university / higher education
60%
Apprenticeship
4%
Employment
21%
Any sustained destination
86%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
10/10among the least deprived tenth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher53.7%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications7.1%18.1%
In managerial or professional work57.7%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways6.2%18.1%
Residents in very good health60.3%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier97.4%62.3%
Social housing0.4%17.1%
Privately rented2.2%20.5%
Detached houses81.6%22.9%
Flats2.4%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms76.7%21.1%
Households with no car or van5%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01010152 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,049 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£528,000235 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£363,000–£650,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (105)£633,500
Semi-detached (54)£528,000
Terraced (29)£362,500
Flat (47)£225,000

Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (4.89 km, 2026 entry): 1,674 sales, median £470,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
1an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
3an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
11an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
3an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools