The Rural Enterprise Academy
Rodbaston Drive, Penkridge, ST19 5PH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- PENK VALLEY ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mrs Annabel Stoddart
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 300
- Pupils on roll
- 217
- URN
- 138351
- Local authority
- Staffordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01785333360
About this school
The Rural Enterprise Academy is a secondary academy in Penkridge. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 217 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
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
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Inadequate
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Safeguarding
- Not effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: special measures.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 57 | 35 | 54 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.1 | 37.7 | 37.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.42 -0.80 to -0.04 | -0.21 -0.68 to +0.26 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 19% | 25.7% | 16.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 37% | 40% | 44.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
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 The Rural Enterprise 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 | Staffordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.1 | 36.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.7 | 35 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 37.6 | 36.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 236 |
| 2023/24 | 229 |
| 2024/25 | 240 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Rural Enterprise Academy compares
The Rural Enterprise Academy ranked 49th of 56 secondary schools in Staffordshire 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 8% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 37.6 | 10.1% | 25% | 217 | — |
| Wolgarston High School | 47.6 | 7% | 14.7% | 847 | 1.6 miles |
| Cardinal Griffin Catholic College | 43.6 | 8.6% | 29.9% | 732 | 3.4 miles |
| Cannock Chase High School | 42.1 | 9.7% | 35.2% | 1,113 | 4.0 miles |
| Cheslyn Hay Academy | 42.1 | 7.9% | 20.2% | 1,279 | 4.2 miles |
| Staffordshire University Academy | 32.9 | 7.4% | 44.6% | 709 | 4.2 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)
- 25%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- Overall absence
- 10.07%
- Persistent absence
- 27.61%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Wolgarston High School1.6 miles
Secondary · Stafford
-
Cardinal Griffin Catholic College3.4 miles
Secondary · Cannock
-
Cannock Chase High School4.0 miles
Secondary · Cannock
-
Cheslyn Hay Academy4.2 miles
Secondary · Walsall
-
Staffordshire University Academy4.2 miles
Secondary · Cannock
Common questions
- What year groups does The Rural Enterprise Academy teach?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Penkridge.
- Who is the principal of The Rural Enterprise Academy?
- The principal of The Rural Enterprise Academy is Mrs Annabel Stoddart, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Rural Enterprise Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Rural Enterprise 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 big is The Rural Enterprise Academy?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy has 217 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Rural Enterprise Academy full?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy has capacity for 300 pupils and 217 on roll (72%), 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 The Rural Enterprise Academy a faith school?
- No. The Rural Enterprise Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Rural Enterprise Academy a selective school?
- No. The Rural Enterprise Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Rural Enterprise Academy?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy is part of PENK VALLEY ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Rural Enterprise Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 34.1 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 The Rural Enterprise Academy rank locally?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy ranked 49th of 56 secondary schools in Staffordshire 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 8% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Rural Enterprise Academy's absence rate?
- The Rural Enterprise Academy's overall absence rate is 10.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Rural Enterprise Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Rural Enterprise 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 1 July 2026.