Ormiston Denes Academy
Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, NR32 4AH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ORMISTON ACADEMIES TRUST
- Principal
- Mrs Kate Williams
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Ormiston Academies Trust
- Constituency
- Lowestoft
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,200
- Pupils on roll
- 711
- URN
- 139403
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01502574474
About this school
Ormiston Denes Academy is a secondary academy in Lowestoft. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 711 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 140 | 143 | 130 |
| Attainment 8 score | 36.2 | 35.7 | 40.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.27 -0.51 to -0.03 | -0.38 -0.62 to -0.15 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 19% | 22.4% | 30% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 39% | 46.2% | 53.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 24% | 28% | 25.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
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 Ormiston Denes 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 | Suffolk average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 36.2 | 37.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.7 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.5 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 14.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 15.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 753 |
| 2023/24 | 767 |
| 2024/25 | 730 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Ormiston Denes Academy compares
Ormiston Denes Academy ranked 31st of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% 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 | 40.5 | 9.9% | 57.4% | 711 | — |
| Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and Mathematics | 44.9 | 9.9% | 32% | 1,263 | 0.9 miles |
| East Point Academy | 39.5 | 9.3% | 43% | 846 | 1.7 miles |
| Pakefield High School | 38.4 | 9.6% | 39.9% | 679 | 3.0 miles |
| Cliff Park Ormiston Academy | 35.9 | 11.8% | 41.1% | 812 | 5.1 miles |
| Ormiston Venture Academy | 47.3 | 10.5% | 40.5% | 889 | 5.7 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)
- 57.4%
- English as an additional language
- 7.7%
- Overall absence
- 9.89%
- Persistent absence
- 28%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and Mathematics0.9 miles
Secondary · Lowestoft
-
East Point Academy1.7 miles
Secondary · Lowestoft
-
Pakefield High School3.0 miles
Secondary · Lowestoft
-
Cliff Park Ormiston Academy5.1 miles
Secondary · Great Yarmouth
-
Ormiston Venture Academy5.7 miles
Secondary · Gorleston
Other schools in Lowestoft
- Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and Mathematics Secondary
- East Point Academy Secondary
- Pakefield High School Secondary
- Blundeston Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Carlton Colville Primary School Primary
- Corton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Dell Primary School Primary
- Elm Tree Primary School Primary
- Grove Primary School Primary
- Gunton Primary Academy Primary
- Kessingland Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Ormiston Denes Academy teach?
- Ormiston Denes Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Lowestoft.
- Who is the principal of Ormiston Denes Academy?
- The principal of Ormiston Denes Academy is Mrs Kate Williams, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Ormiston Denes Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Ormiston Denes 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 Ormiston Denes Academy?
- Ormiston Denes Academy has 711 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Ormiston Denes Academy full?
- Ormiston Denes Academy has capacity for 1,200 pupils and 711 on roll (59%), 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 Ormiston Denes Academy a faith school?
- No. Ormiston Denes Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Ormiston Denes Academy a selective school?
- No. Ormiston Denes Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Ormiston Denes Academy?
- Ormiston Denes Academy is part of ORMISTON ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Ormiston Denes Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 36.2 in 2022/23 and 40.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Ormiston Denes Academy rank locally?
- Ormiston Denes Academy ranked 31st of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% 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 Ormiston Denes Academy's absence rate?
- Ormiston Denes Academy's overall absence rate is 9.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Ormiston Denes Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Ormiston Denes 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.