Sandy Secondary School
Engayne Avenue, Sandy, SG19 1BL
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- Pinnacle Trust
- Principal
- Miss Karen Hayward
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Federation
- Greensand Federation
- SEN provision
- OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
- Constituency
- North Bedfordshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,095
- Pupils on roll
- 1,259
- URN
- 109669
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01767680598
About this school
Sandy Secondary School is a foundation secondary school in Sandy. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,259 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 188 | 196 | 184 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.8 | 43.1 | 40.8 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.08 -0.13 to +0.28 | -0.24 -0.43 to -0.04 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 34% | 40.3% | 37% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 60% | 63.3% | 62.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 78% | 79.1% | 70.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Sandy Secondary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Central Bedfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 42.8 | 41.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.1 | 38.9 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.8 | 42.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,155 |
| 2023/24 | 1,171 |
| 2024/25 | 1,214 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sandy Secondary School compares
Sandy Secondary School ranked 11th of 14 secondary schools in Central Bedfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.8 | 8% | 20.2% | 1,259 | — |
| Edward Peake CofE VC School | — | 7% | 26.3% | 359 | 3.3 miles |
| Stratton School | 38.9 | 10.2% | 21.4% | 917 | 3.9 miles |
| Ernulf Academy | 40.3 | 10.3% | 32.8% | 720 | 5.4 miles |
| Mark Rutherford School | 41.5 | 9.1% | 27.1% | 1,150 | 6.3 miles |
| Goldington Academy | 54.3 | 6.1% | 22.9% | 958 | 6.5 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 20.22%
- English as an additional language
- 2.3%
- Overall absence
- 7.98%
- Persistent absence
- 24.49%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Edward Peake CofE VC School3.3 miles
Secondary · Biggleswade
-
Stratton School3.9 miles
Secondary · Biggleswade
-
Ernulf Academy5.4 miles
Secondary · St. Neots
-
Mark Rutherford School6.3 miles
Secondary · Bedford
-
Goldington Academy6.5 miles
Secondary · Bedford
Other schools in Sandy
- Barnabas Oley CofE Primary School Primary
- Gamlingay Village Primary Primary
- Laburnum Primary School Primary
- Maple Tree Primary School Primary
- Potton Primary School Primary
- Robert Peel Primary School Primary
- St Swithun's Church of England VC Primary School Primary
- Wrestlingworth CofE Infant School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Sandy Secondary School teach?
- Sandy Secondary School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Sandy.
- Who is the principal of Sandy Secondary School?
- The principal of Sandy Secondary School is Miss Karen Hayward, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Sandy Secondary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sandy Secondary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Sandy Secondary School?
- Sandy Secondary School has 1,259 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Sandy Secondary School full?
- Sandy Secondary School has capacity for 1,095 pupils and 1,259 on roll (115%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Sandy Secondary School a faith school?
- No. Sandy Secondary School has no designated religious character.
- Is Sandy Secondary School a selective school?
- No. Sandy Secondary School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Sandy Secondary School?
- Sandy Secondary School is part of Pinnacle Trust. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Sandy Secondary School have?
- The schools register lists Sandy Secondary School's special educational needs provision as: OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Sandy Secondary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.8 in 2022/23 and 40.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sandy Secondary School rank locally?
- Sandy Secondary School ranked 11th of 14 secondary schools in Central Bedfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 41% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sandy Secondary School's absence rate?
- Sandy Secondary School's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sandy Secondary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sandy Secondary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.