Aureus School
Candytuft Way, Great Western Park, Didcot, OX11 6FF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- GLF SCHOOLS
- Headteacher
- Ms Kirsty Rogers
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- GLF Schools
- Constituency
- Didcot and Wantage
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,200
- Pupils on roll
- 531
- URN
- 140653
- Local authority
- Oxfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01235313713
About this school
Aureus School is a secondary academy in Didcot. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 531 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 | 133 | 127 | 98 |
| Attainment 8 score | 36.5 | 35.0 | 33.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.38 -0.63 to -0.13 | -0.46 -0.72 to -0.21 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 25% | 22.8% | 19.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 43% | 46.5% | 44.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 47% | 17.3% | 9.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
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 Aureus 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 | 36.5 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35 | 37.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 33.7 | 37.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 13.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 589 |
| 2023/24 | 545 |
| 2024/25 | 485 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Aureus School compares
Aureus School ranked 38th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 33.7 | 13.4% | 33.8% | 531 | — |
| UTC Oxfordshire | 32.5 | 14.9% | 29.8% | 316 | 0.1 miles |
| Didcot Girls' School | 58.8 | 7.5% | 13.2% | 1,633 | 0.8 miles |
| St Birinus School | 48.2 | 8.9% | 16.8% | 1,237 | 1.3 miles |
| John Mason School | 44.5 | 13.5% | 23.6% | 927 | 5.0 miles |
| Larkmead School | 39.4 | 12.6% | 21.7% | 959 | 5.1 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)
- 33.81%
- English as an additional language
- 19.6%
- Overall absence
- 13.44%
- Persistent absence
- 33.46%
Location
Nearby schools
-
UTC Oxfordshire0.1 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
Didcot Girls' School0.8 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
St Birinus School1.3 miles
Secondary · Didcot
-
John Mason School5.0 miles
Secondary · Abingdon
-
Larkmead School5.1 miles
Secondary · Abingdon
Other schools in Didcot
- Didcot Girls' School Secondary
- St Birinus 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 year groups does Aureus School teach?
- Aureus School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Didcot.
- Who is the headteacher of Aureus School?
- The headteacher of Aureus School is Ms Kirsty Rogers, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Aureus School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Aureus 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 Aureus School?
- Aureus School has 531 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Aureus School full?
- Aureus School has capacity for 1,200 pupils and 531 on roll (44%), 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 Aureus School a faith school?
- No. Aureus School has no designated religious character.
- Is Aureus School a selective school?
- No. Aureus School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Aureus School?
- Aureus School is part of GLF SCHOOLS. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Aureus School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 36.5 in 2022/23 and 33.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Aureus School rank locally?
- Aureus School ranked 38th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Aureus School's absence rate?
- Aureus School's overall absence rate is 13.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Aureus School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Aureus 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.