Merchants' Academy
Gatehouse Avenue, Withywood, Bristol, BS13 9AJ
This school is closed (it closed in August 2024).
It was replaced by E-Act Merchants' Academy. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 3 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Principal
- Mr Guy Swallow
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Bristol South
- Setting
- (England/Wales) Urban city and town
- Capacity
- 1,410
- Pupils on roll
- 1,279
- URN
- 135597
- Local authority
- Bristol, City of
About this school
Merchants' Academy was an all-through academy in Bristol. It taught children aged 3 to 18 and had 1,279 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
Merchants' Academy has not been inspected by Ofsted yet. It opened in its current form in September 2008, and new or converted schools usually wait a few years for their first inspection.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 58 | 43 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 7% | 26% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 5% |
| Expected standard in reading | 43% | 37% |
| Expected standard in maths | 16% | 30% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 28% | 30% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 95.0 | 97.0 |
| Reading progress | -6.60 | - |
| Writing progress | -8.60 | - |
| Maths progress | -8.60 | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 138 | 145 |
| Attainment 8 score | 29.3 | 26.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.23 -1.47 to -0.99 | -1.28 -1.51 to -1.04 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 16% | 12.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 31% | 30.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 8% | 13.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.3 | 2.2 |
Trends over time
How Merchants' Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Bristol, City of average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7% | 51.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 26% | 52.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | — | 55.2% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Bristol, City of average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 29.3 | 36.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 26.6 | 34.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | — | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 16.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 18.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | — | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,303 |
| 2023/24 | 1,279 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Merchants' Academy compares
Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2023/24.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | — | 18.9% | 65.7% | 1,279 | — |
| E-Act Merchants' Academy | 29.5 | 15.3% | 67.3% | 1,018 | 0.1 miles |
| Bridge Learning Campus | 34.6 | 11.2% | 57.9% | 1,202 | 1.0 miles |
| King's Oak Academy | 42 | 8.1% | 27.1% | 992 | 6.5 miles |
| Bradley Stoke Community School | 50.6 | 6.8% | 11.7% | 1,393 | 9.1 miles |
| Fair Furlong Primary School | — | 8.1% | 54.1% | 454 | 0.3 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 2023/24 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 65.7%
- English as an additional language
- 11.6%
- Overall absence
- 18.9%
- Persistent absence
- 54.1%
Location
Nearby schools
-
E-Act Merchants' Academy0.1 miles
All-through · Bristol
-
Bridge Learning Campus1.0 miles
All-through · Bristol
-
King's Oak Academy6.5 miles
All-through · Bristol
-
Bradley Stoke Community School9.1 miles
All-through · Bristol
-
Fair Furlong Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Bristol
Other schools in Bristol
- Bradley Stoke Community School All-through
- Bridge Learning Campus All-through
- E-Act Merchants' Academy All-through
- King's Oak Academy All-through
- Filton Avenue Nursery School Nursery
- Hartcliffe Nursery School and Children's Centre Nursery
- Ilminster Avenue Nursery School Nursery
- Knowle West Early Years Centre Nursery
- Little Hayes Nursery School Nursery
- Redcliffe Childrens Centre and Maintained Nursery School Nursery
- Rosemary Nursery School and Children's Centre Nursery
- Speedwell Nursery School Nursery
Common questions
- What year groups does Merchants' Academy teach?
- Merchants' Academy taught children aged 3 to 18. It was an all-through school in Bristol.
- Has Merchants' Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected Merchants' Academy under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How big is Merchants' Academy?
- Merchants' Academy had 1,279 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 18.
- How have Merchants' Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 7% in 2022/23 and 26% in 2023/24. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are Merchants' Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Merchants' Academy'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 31 August 2024.