King Alfred's
Portway, Wantage, OX12 9BY
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- CAMBRIAN LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Jonathan Smart
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Faringdon Academy of Schools
- Constituency
- Didcot and Wantage
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 2,205
- Pupils on roll
- 1,708
- URN
- 137140
- Local authority
- Oxfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01235225700
About this school
King Alfred's is a secondary academy in Wantage. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,708 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 no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 235 | 236 | 233 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.6 | 44.0 | 45.4 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.28 +0.10 to +0.47 | -0.02 -0.21 to +0.16 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 48% | 47.9% | 43.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 68% | 66.1% | 63.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 36% | 24.6% | 24.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
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 King Alfred's has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Oxfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 46.6 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 44 | 37.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 45.4 | 37.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,705 |
| 2023/24 | 1,682 |
| 2024/25 | 1,763 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How King Alfred's compares
King Alfred's ranked 24th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 59% 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 | 45.4 | 11.9% | 19.5% | 1,708 | — |
| UTC Oxfordshire | 32.5 | 14.9% | 29.8% | 316 | 6.9 miles |
| Aureus School | 33.7 | 13.4% | 33.8% | 531 | 6.9 miles |
| Didcot Girls' School | 58.8 | 7.5% | 13.2% | 1,633 | 7.7 miles |
| Faringdon Community College | 43.7 | 12.3% | 18.6% | 1,382 | 8.1 miles |
| St Birinus School | 48.2 | 8.9% | 16.8% | 1,237 | 8.1 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report21 April 2026
- 8 March 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 19.51%
- English as an additional language
- 5.2%
- Overall absence
- 11.93%
- Persistent absence
- 29.45%
Location
Nearby schools
-
UTC Oxfordshire6.9 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Aureus School6.9 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Didcot Girls' School7.7 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Faringdon Community College8.1 miles
Secondary · Faringdon
-
St Birinus School8.1 miles
Secondary · Didcot
Other schools in Wantage
- Charlton Primary School Primary
- Grove Church of England School Primary
- Millbrook Primary School Primary
- St Amand's Catholic Primary School Primary
- St James Church of England Primary School, Hanney Primary
- St Nicholas CofE Primary School Primary
- Stockham Primary School Primary
- The Hendreds Church of England School Primary
- The Ridgeway Church of England (C) Primary School Primary
- Wantage Church of England Primary School Primary
- Wantage Primary Academy Primary
- St Johns CofE Academy All-through
Common questions
- What year groups does King Alfred's teach?
- King Alfred's teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Wantage.
- Who is the headteacher of King Alfred's?
- The headteacher of King Alfred's is Mr Jonathan Smart, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was King Alfred's last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected King Alfred's, 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 King Alfred's?
- King Alfred's has 1,708 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is King Alfred's full?
- King Alfred's has capacity for 2,205 pupils and 1,708 on roll (77%), 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 King Alfred's a faith school?
- No. King Alfred's has no designated religious character.
- Is King Alfred's a selective school?
- No. King Alfred's is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs King Alfred's?
- King Alfred's is part of CAMBRIAN LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have King Alfred's's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46.6 in 2022/23 and 45.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does King Alfred's rank locally?
- King Alfred's ranked 24th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 59% 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 King Alfred's's absence rate?
- King Alfred's's overall absence rate is 11.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are King Alfred's's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, King Alfred's'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.