Ipswich Academy
Braziers Wood Road, Ipswich, IP3 0SP
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- PARADIGM TRUST
- Interim Principal
- Mr Adam Wilding
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Paradigm Trust
- SEN provision
- OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
- Constituency
- Ipswich
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,230
- Pupils on roll
- 981
- URN
- 136453
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01473550040
About this school
Ipswich Academy is a secondary academy in Ipswich. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 981 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Ipswich Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 155 | 237 | 190 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.7 | 35.7 | 37.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.44 -0.67 to -0.21 | -0.54 -0.72 to -0.35 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 30% | 28.7% | 29.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 49% | 49.8% | 47.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 18% | 9.3% | 7.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
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 Ipswich 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 | Suffolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.7 | 37.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.7 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 37.6 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,001 |
| 2023/24 | 1,044 |
| 2024/25 | 1,006 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Ipswich Academy compares
Ipswich Academy ranked 38th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 32% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 37.6 | 11.7% | 39.8% | 981 | — |
| Copleston High School | 46.9 | 8.5% | 19% | 1,930 | 1.7 miles |
| Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy | 34.3 | 11.3% | 40.6% | 811 | 1.8 miles |
| St Alban's Catholic High School | 46.9 | 8.1% | 21.6% | 967 | 2.4 miles |
| Chantry Academy | 33.9 | 8.1% | 38.4% | 1,006 | 2.6 miles |
| Northgate High School | 50.6 | 8.4% | 18.9% | 1,750 | 2.9 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)
- 39.76%
- English as an additional language
- 21.6%
- Overall absence
- 11.72%
- Persistent absence
- 31.03%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Copleston High School1.7 miles
Secondary · Ipswich
-
Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy1.8 miles
Secondary · Ipswich
-
St Alban's Catholic High School2.4 miles
Secondary · Ipswich
-
Chantry Academy2.6 miles
Secondary · Ipswich
-
Northgate High School2.9 miles
Secondary · Ipswich
Other schools in Ipswich
Ipswich Academy ranks 10th of the 12 ranked secondary schools in Ipswich.
- Chantry Academy Secondary
- Claydon High School Secondary
- Copleston High School Secondary
- Hadleigh High School Secondary
- Holbrook Academy Secondary
- Kesgrave High School Secondary
- Northgate High School Secondary
- Ormiston Endeavour Academy Secondary
- St Alban's Catholic High School Secondary
- Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy Secondary
- Westbourne Academy Secondary
- Highfield Nursery School Nursery
Common questions
- What ages does Ipswich Academy teach?
- Ipswich Academy teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Ipswich.
- Who is the interim principal of Ipswich Academy?
- The interim principal of Ipswich Academy is Mr Adam Wilding, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Ipswich Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Ipswich Academy, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Ipswich Academy?
- Ipswich Academy has 981 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Ipswich Academy full?
- Ipswich Academy has capacity for 1,230 pupils and 981 on roll (80%), so it has space against 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 Ipswich Academy a faith school?
- No. Ipswich Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Ipswich Academy a selective school?
- No. Ipswich Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Ipswich Academy part of an academy trust?
- Ipswich Academy is part of PARADIGM TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Ipswich Academy have?
- The schools register lists Ipswich Academy's special educational needs provision as: OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Ipswich Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 34.7 in 2022/23 and 37.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Ipswich Academy compare with other schools in Suffolk?
- Ipswich Academy ranked 38th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 32% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Ipswich Academy's absence rate?
- Ipswich Academy's overall absence rate is 11.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Ipswich Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Ipswich 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 15 July 2026.