The Matthew Arnold School
Kingston Road, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1PF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- BOURNE EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Assal Ruse
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Bourne Education Trust
- Constituency
- Spelthorne
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 980
- Pupils on roll
- 947
- URN
- 138765
- Local authority
- Surrey
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01784457275
About this school
The Matthew Arnold School is a secondary academy in Staines-upon-Thames. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 947 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 7 February 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 158 | 155 | 180 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.2 | 43.2 | 49.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.43 -0.67 to -0.18 | -0.24 -0.48 to 0.00 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 27% | 38.1% | 46.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 48% | 56.1% | 67.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 13% | 11.6% | 11.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.3 | 3.6 | 4.1 |
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 Matthew Arnold 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 | Surrey average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.2 | 38.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.2 | 39.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 49 | 38.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 966 |
| 2023/24 | 985 |
| 2024/25 | 959 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Matthew Arnold School compares
The Matthew Arnold School ranked 32nd of 54 secondary schools in Surrey for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 72% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49 | 6% | 21.8% | 947 | — |
| Thomas Knyvett College | 38.6 | 8.5% | 36.8% | 671 | 1.1 miles |
| The Magna Carta School | 46.7 | 8.3% | 24% | 1,042 | 1.5 miles |
| The Bishop Wand Church of England School | 53.9 | 5.2% | 7.4% | 1,229 | 2.9 miles |
| Thamesmead School | 50.6 | 8.9% | 19.5% | 1,054 | 3.0 miles |
| Chertsey High School | 46.2 | 7% | 20.3% | 886 | 3.0 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)
- 21.79%
- English as an additional language
- 15.6%
- Overall absence
- 5.99%
- Persistent absence
- 15.22%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Thomas Knyvett College1.1 miles
Secondary · Ashford
-
The Magna Carta School1.5 miles
Secondary · Staines-upon-Thames
-
The Bishop Wand Church of England School2.9 miles
Secondary · Sunbury-on-Thames
-
Thamesmead School3.0 miles
Secondary · Shepperton
-
Chertsey High School3.0 miles
Secondary · Addlestone
Other schools in Staines-upon-Thames
- The Magna Carta School Secondary
- Stanwell Fields CofE Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Matthew Arnold School teach?
- The Matthew Arnold School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Staines-upon-Thames.
- Who is the headteacher of The Matthew Arnold School?
- The headteacher of The Matthew Arnold School is Ms Assal Ruse, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Matthew Arnold School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Matthew Arnold 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 big is The Matthew Arnold School?
- The Matthew Arnold School has 947 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Matthew Arnold School full?
- The Matthew Arnold School has capacity for 980 pupils and 947 on roll (97%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Matthew Arnold School a faith school?
- No. The Matthew Arnold School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Matthew Arnold School a selective school?
- No. The Matthew Arnold School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Matthew Arnold School?
- The Matthew Arnold School is part of BOURNE EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Matthew Arnold School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.2 in 2022/23 and 49 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 Matthew Arnold School rank locally?
- The Matthew Arnold School ranked 32nd of 54 secondary schools in Surrey for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 72% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% 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 Matthew Arnold School's absence rate?
- The Matthew Arnold School's overall absence rate is 6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Matthew Arnold School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Matthew Arnold 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.