Sybil Andrews Academy
Rougham Tower Avenue, Bury St. Edmunds, IP32 7QB
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP
- Headteacher
- Mr Henry Stevenson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Unity Schools Partnership
- SEN provision
- MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 780
- Pupils on roll
- 657
- URN
- 140969
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01284413400
About this school
Sybil Andrews Academy is a secondary academy in Bury St. Edmunds. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 657 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Sybil Andrews Academy, 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. 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 | 158 | 144 | 102 |
| Attainment 8 score | 42.5 | 47.5 | 49.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.05 -0.28 to +0.17 | +0.15 -0.09 to +0.39 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% | 49.3% | 55.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 63% | 70.1% | 78.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 72% | 74.3% | 60.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.9 | 4.3 | 4.5 |
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 Sybil Andrews 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 | 42.5 | 37.4 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 47.5 | 37.3 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 49.5 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 682 |
| 2023/24 | 639 |
| 2024/25 | 627 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sybil Andrews Academy compares
Sybil Andrews Academy ranked 7th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 74% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49.5 | 7.8% | 14.5% | 657 | — |
| Thurston Community College | 46.9 | 7.8% | 18% | 1,512 | 2.3 miles |
| King Edward VI CEVC School | 45.4 | 9.9% | 20% | 1,189 | 2.3 miles |
| Bury St Edmunds County High School | 49.8 | 9.5% | 24.6% | 657 | 2.5 miles |
| St Benedict's Catholic School | 49.8 | 7.2% | 12.7% | 968 | 2.6 miles |
| Ixworth High School | 44 | 9.3% | 22.9% | 512 | 5.3 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)
- 14.51%
- English as an additional language
- 9.6%
- Overall absence
- 7.83%
- Persistent absence
- 18.22%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Thurston Community College2.3 miles
Secondary · Bury St Edmunds
-
King Edward VI CEVC School2.3 miles
Secondary · Bury St Edmunds
-
Bury St Edmunds County High School2.5 miles
Secondary · Bury St Edmunds
-
St Benedict's Catholic School2.6 miles
Secondary · Bury St Edmunds
-
Ixworth High School5.3 miles
Secondary · Ixworth
Other schools in Bury St. Edmunds
- Great Whelnetham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ixworth Church of England Primary School Primary
- Rougham Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Edmundsbury CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Stanton Primary School Primary
- The Pines Primary School Primary
- Thurston Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- West Row Academy Primary
- Riverwalk School Academies
- Sir Peter Hall School Free Schools
- The Albany Academies
- Culford School Independent schools
Common questions
- What ages does Sybil Andrews Academy teach?
- Sybil Andrews Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Bury St. Edmunds.
- Who is the headteacher of Sybil Andrews Academy?
- The headteacher of Sybil Andrews Academy is Mr Henry Stevenson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Sybil Andrews Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sybil Andrews 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 many pupils are at Sybil Andrews Academy?
- Sybil Andrews Academy has 657 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Sybil Andrews Academy full?
- Sybil Andrews Academy has capacity for 780 pupils and 657 on roll (84%), 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 Sybil Andrews Academy a faith school?
- No. Sybil Andrews Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Sybil Andrews Academy a selective school?
- No. Sybil Andrews Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Sybil Andrews Academy part of an academy trust?
- Sybil Andrews Academy is part of UNITY SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Sybil Andrews Academy have?
- The schools register lists Sybil Andrews Academy's special educational needs provision as: MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Sybil Andrews Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 42.5 in 2022/23 and 49.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sybil Andrews Academy compare with other schools in Suffolk?
- Sybil Andrews Academy ranked 7th of 43 secondary schools in Suffolk for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 74% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sybil Andrews Academy's absence rate?
- Sybil Andrews Academy's overall absence rate is 7.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sybil Andrews Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sybil Andrews 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.