Magdalen College School
Waynflete Avenue, Brackley, NN13 6FB
This school is open but due to close.
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL BRACKLEY ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Sukhbir Farar
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Magdalen College School
- Constituency
- South Northamptonshire
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,500
- Pupils on roll
- 1,293
- URN
- 139158
- Local authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01280846300
About this school
Magdalen College School is a secondary academy in Brackley. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,293 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. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit 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
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Inadequate
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Sixth form
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 219 | 249 | 219 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.0 | 46.3 | 44.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.21 -0.40 to -0.02 | -0.25 -0.43 to -0.07 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% | 39.4% | 32.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 67% | 67.5% | 62.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 36% | 18.9% | 32.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
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 Magdalen College 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 | West Northamptonshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 46 | 36.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 46.3 | 36.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.2 | 35.6 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,432 |
| 2023/24 | 1,404 |
| 2024/25 | 1,358 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Magdalen College School compares
Magdalen College School ranked 13th of 22 secondary schools in West Northamptonshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.2 | 9.4% | 11.5% | 1,293 | — |
| Chenderit School | 50 | 8.4% | 15% | 1,104 | 6.0 miles |
| Silverstone UTC | 31.1 | 12.8% | 19.3% | 463 | 6.3 miles |
| Royal Latin School | 73.5 | 4.3% | 5.4% | 1,326 | 7.4 miles |
| Buckingham School | 38.6 | 11.8% | 21.8% | 1,110 | 7.5 miles |
| Blessed George Napier Catholic School and Sixth Form | 48.5 | 6.6% | 15.3% | 943 | 8.2 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 11.52%
- English as an additional language
- 2.7%
- Overall absence
- 9.36%
- Persistent absence
- 21.45%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Chenderit School6.0 miles
Secondary · Banbury
-
Silverstone UTC6.3 miles
Secondary · Towcester
-
Royal Latin School7.4 miles
Secondary · Buckingham
-
Buckingham School7.5 miles
Secondary · Buckingham
-
Blessed George Napier Catholic School and Sixth Form8.2 miles
Secondary · Banbury
Other schools in Brackley
- Bracken Leas Primary School Primary
- Brackley Church of England Junior School Primary
- Croughton All Saints CofE Primary School Primary
- Farthinghoe Primary School Primary
- Helmdon Primary School Primary
- Syresham St James CofE Primary School and Nursery Primary
- The Radstone Primary School Primary
- Waynflete Infants' School Primary
- Beachborough School Independent schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Magdalen College School teach?
- Magdalen College School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Brackley.
- Who is the headteacher of Magdalen College School?
- The headteacher of Magdalen College School is Mr Sukhbir Farar, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Magdalen College School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Magdalen College 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 Magdalen College School?
- Magdalen College School has 1,293 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Magdalen College School a faith school?
- No. Magdalen College School has no designated religious character.
- Is Magdalen College School a selective school?
- No. Magdalen College School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Magdalen College School?
- Magdalen College School is part of MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL BRACKLEY ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Magdalen College School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46 in 2022/23 and 44.2 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Magdalen College School rank locally?
- Magdalen College School ranked 13th of 22 secondary schools in West Northamptonshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Magdalen College School's absence rate?
- Magdalen College School's overall absence rate is 9.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Magdalen College School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Magdalen College 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.