St Birinus School
Mereland Road, Didcot, OX11 8AZ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Boys
- Trust
- RIDGEWAY EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr William Manning
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Ridgeway Education Trust
- Constituency
- Didcot and Wantage
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,428
- Pupils on roll
- 1,237
- URN
- 138762
- Local authority
- Oxfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01235814444
About this school
St Birinus School is a boys' secondary academy in Didcot. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,237 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Birinus School, 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
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
- Outstanding
- 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 | 133 | 166 | 171 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.7 | 50.0 | 48.2 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.46 +0.21 to +0.71 | +0.36 +0.14 to +0.59 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 54% | 53% | 50.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 75% | 72.9% | 70.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 49% | 45.2% | 43.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
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 St Birinus 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 | Oxfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.7 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 50 | 37.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48.2 | 37.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,040 |
| 2023/24 | 1,166 |
| 2024/25 | 1,212 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Birinus School compares
St Birinus School ranked 15th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 70% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48.2 | 8.9% | 16.8% | 1,237 | — |
| Didcot Girls' School | 58.8 | 7.5% | 13.2% | 1,633 | 0.6 miles |
| Aureus School | 33.7 | 13.4% | 33.8% | 531 | 1.3 miles |
| UTC Oxfordshire | 32.5 | 14.9% | 29.8% | 316 | 1.3 miles |
| Wallingford School | 53.9 | 9.2% | 14.8% | 1,507 | 4.9 miles |
| John Mason School | 44.5 | 13.5% | 23.6% | 927 | 5.6 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 16.81%
- English as an additional language
- 13.8%
- Overall absence
- 8.88%
- Persistent absence
- 19.89%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Didcot Girls' School0.6 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Aureus School1.3 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
UTC Oxfordshire1.3 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Wallingford School4.9 miles
Secondary · Wallingford
-
John Mason School5.6 miles
Secondary · Abingdon
Other schools in Didcot
- Aureus School Secondary
- Didcot Girls' School Secondary
- UTC Oxfordshire Secondary
- Lydalls Nursery School Nursery
- All Saints Church of England Primary School Primary
- Aureus Primary School Primary
- Blewbury Church of England Primary School Primary
- Chilton County Primary School Primary
- Didcot Primary Academy Primary
- Hagbourne Church of England Primary School Primary
- Harwell Primary School Primary
- Ladygrove Park Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Birinus School teach?
- St Birinus School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Didcot.
- Who is the headteacher of St Birinus School?
- The headteacher of St Birinus School is Mr William Manning, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Birinus School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Birinus 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 many pupils are at St Birinus School?
- St Birinus School has 1,237 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is St Birinus School full?
- St Birinus School has capacity for 1,428 pupils and 1,237 on roll (87%), 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 St Birinus School a faith school?
- No. St Birinus School has no designated religious character.
- Is St Birinus School a selective school?
- No. St Birinus School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is St Birinus School part of an academy trust?
- St Birinus School is part of RIDGEWAY EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have St Birinus School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 51.7 in 2022/23 and 48.2 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Birinus School compare with other schools in Oxfordshire?
- St Birinus School ranked 15th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 70% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Birinus School's absence rate?
- St Birinus School's overall absence rate is 8.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Birinus School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Birinus 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 1 July 2026.