Matthew Arnold School
Secondary · Oxford · OX2 9JE
Data updated
SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection
We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →
Inspected 10 June 2025
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,255 pupils · 103% of 1,220 capacity (over capacity) (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 13.2% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 16.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 16.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 2.8% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Website
- http://www.maschool.org.uk
- URN
- 142104
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 141 families named it first for 192 Year 7 places, 0.73 first choices per place. We hold 15 Year 7 admissions rounds for it, 2012 to 2026; none was decided by a published distance. At its inspection on 10 June 2025 Ofsted awarded no overall grade; the lowest of the four areas it judged was Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 8.6% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.73 first-choice applications per place192 places offered · 141 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Cutoff by admission criterion (2025 entry)
- Criterion 12 (All other children who do not live in the designated (catchment) area and also do not attend a designated...)
- 4.929 miles
2025 is the most recent year we hold a cutoff for this school. It describes that year, not 2026.
How safe is a place here? Check your postcode
One free check a month, no account needed. No cutoff distance applied in 2026, so there is no boundary for your address to be inside of. The check shows how far you live from the school and how many rounds running it has placed every applicant. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools that do ration places by distance and whether you are inside them, and the address check across every school at once.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Oxford school admissions · Oxfordshire school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
207 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
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)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| The Cooper School | 41.7 | |
| Bartholomew School | 57 | |
| Bramhall High School | 51.7 | |
| Hitchin Boys' School | 57.1 | |
| Kings Langley School | 48.6 | |
| The Windsor Boys' School | 47.8 | |
| Saint Joan of Arc Catholic School | 50.6 | |
| Harris Academy Falconwood | 47.3 | |
| Sawston Village College | 55.5 | |
| Heathside School | 58.7 | |
| Wymondham College | 56.4 | |
| The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School | 45.9 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 54% (Oxfordshire 64%, England 59%) · Any other White background 12% (Oxfordshire 9%, England 7%) · Mixed White and Asian 5% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Black African 4% (Oxfordshire 3%, England 5%) · Any other Mixed background 4% (Oxfordshire 3%, England 3%) · Asian Pakistani 4% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 5%) · Any other ethnic group 2% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 3%) · Asian Chinese 2% (Oxfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 2% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 3%) · Asian Indian 2% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Black African 2% (Oxfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 2% (Oxfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Oxfordshire 1%, England 2%) · Not recorded 1% (Oxfordshire 4%, England 2%) · Any other Black background 1% (Oxfordshire 1%, England 1%) · White Irish 1% (Oxfordshire 0%, England 0%) · Black Caribbean 1% (Oxfordshire 0%, England 1%)
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
10.00 suspensions per 100 pupils and 2 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Oxfordshire: 20.32 suspensions and 0.04 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
85% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 5% moved to another state school · 10% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
65.8% of teachers took sickness absence, 5 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £45,792; 11.8% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 78% (77%) · premises 6% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 5% (6%) · supplies and services 11% (11%) · educational supplies 10% (6%) · bought-in professional services 0% (1%) · catering 2% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £512,000; in-year balance +£929,000
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: academy finance return, 2024-25, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Where students go after sixth form
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 10 June 2025: Good
- 30 April 2024: School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next
- 13 November 2018: Good
- 16 January 2018: School remains Good (Improving) - S5 Next
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 9/10among the least deprived fifth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 57.4% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 9.6% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 55% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 5.9% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 54.6% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 80.5% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 2.9% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 16.5% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 62.2% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 15.6% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 54% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 11.7% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01028709 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £455,000199 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £400,000–£597,500the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. 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
No collision was reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025.
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 0an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 0an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted
Nearby schools
- North Hinksey Church of England Primary School
- Botley School
- West Oxford Community Primary School
- Cumnor Church of England School (Voluntary Controlled)
- St Ebbe's Church of England Aided Primary School
- Grandpont Nursery School
- St Barnabas' Church of England Aided Primary School
- New Hinksey Church of England Primary School