The Bicester School
Queen's Avenue, Bicester, OX26 2NS
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ACTIVATE LEARNING EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sam Knowlton
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Activate Learning Education Trust
- Constituency
- Bicester and Woodstock
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,430
- Pupils on roll
- 1,176
- URN
- 142024
- Local authority
- Oxfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01869243331
About this school
The Bicester School is a secondary academy in Bicester. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,176 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
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
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 254 | 264 | 204 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.2 | 45.4 | 47.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.51 -0.69 to -0.33 | -0.16 -0.33 to +0.02 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 33% | 40.9% | 49% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 52% | 65.9% | 65.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 41% | 43.2% | 44.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 4.1 | 4.4 |
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 The Bicester 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 | 41.2 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 45.4 | 37.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 47.9 | 37.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,283 |
| 2023/24 | 1,239 |
| 2024/25 | 1,198 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Bicester School compares
The Bicester School ranked 16th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 47.9 | 8.7% | 20% | 1,176 | — |
| The Cooper School | 41.7 | 8.8% | 13.8% | 1,118 | 0.8 miles |
| Whitelands Academy | 46.4 | 9.9% | 19.3% | 565 | 0.8 miles |
| Gosford Hill School | 45.3 | 10.7% | 22.2% | 825 | 7.7 miles |
| The Marlborough Church of England School | 55.4 | 8.8% | 13.5% | 1,088 | 8.5 miles |
| The Swan School | 55.4 | 7.2% | 21.8% | 1,057 | 9.5 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)
- 19.96%
- English as an additional language
- 14.5%
- Overall absence
- 8.65%
- Persistent absence
- 22.43%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Cooper School0.8 miles
Secondary · Bicester
-
Whitelands Academy0.8 miles
Secondary · Bicester
-
Gosford Hill School7.7 miles
Secondary · Kidlington
-
The Marlborough Church of England School8.5 miles
Secondary · Woodstock
-
The Swan School9.5 miles
Secondary · Oxford
Other schools in Bicester
- The Cooper School Secondary
- Whitelands Academy Secondary
- Brookside Primary School Primary
- Bure Park Primary School Primary
- Chesterton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Dr Radcliffe's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Five Acres Primary School Primary
- Fringford Church of England Primary School Primary
- Fritwell Church of England Primary School Primary
- Gagle Brook Primary School Primary
- Glory Farm Primary School Primary
- King's Meadow Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Bicester School teach?
- The Bicester School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Bicester.
- Who is the headteacher of The Bicester School?
- The headteacher of The Bicester School is Mrs Sam Knowlton, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Bicester School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Bicester 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 Bicester School?
- The Bicester School has 1,176 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Bicester School full?
- The Bicester School has capacity for 1,430 pupils and 1,176 on roll (82%), 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 The Bicester School a faith school?
- No. The Bicester School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Bicester School a selective school?
- No. The Bicester School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Bicester School?
- The Bicester School is part of ACTIVATE LEARNING EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Bicester School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 41.2 in 2022/23 and 47.9 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 Bicester School rank locally?
- The Bicester School ranked 16th of 41 secondary schools in Oxfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 69% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% 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 Bicester School's absence rate?
- The Bicester School's overall absence rate is 8.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Bicester School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Bicester 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 2 July 2026.