Riverside Meadows Academy
Almond Road, St. Neots, PE19 1DZ
- Phase
- Academies
- School type
- Academy special sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- HORIZONS EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Kate Lovegrove
- Sponsor
- Horizons Education Trust
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 120
- Pupils on roll
- 120
- URN
- 142932
- Local authority
- Cambridgeshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01223471719
About this school
Riverside Meadows Academy is a special academy in St. Neots. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 120 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Riverside Meadows Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: serious weaknesses.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 15 | 21 | 27 |
| Attainment 8 score | 9.0 | 4.2 | 6.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.67 -2.44 to -0.90 | -2.19 -2.90 to -1.47 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 7% | 0% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 7% | 0% | 3.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
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 Riverside Meadows 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 | Cambridgeshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 4.2 | 38 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 6 | 36.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 31.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 30.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 31.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 77 |
| 2023/24 | 107 |
| 2024/25 | 113 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 71.68%
- English as an additional language
- 0.9%
- Overall absence
- 31.7%
- Persistent absence
- 62.07%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Samuel Pepys School0.6 miles
Special schools · St Neots
-
Papworth Hall School6.2 miles
Special schools · Cambridge
-
Kimbolton School7.0 miles
Independent schools · Huntingdon
-
Cambian Walnut Tree Lodge School7.4 miles
Special schools · Bedford
-
Spring Common Academy8.2 miles
Academies · Huntingdon
Other schools in St. Neots
- Little Paxton Primary School Primary
- Wintringham Primary Academy Primary
- Ernulf Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does Riverside Meadows Academy teach?
- Riverside Meadows Academy teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a special school in St. Neots.
- Who is the headteacher of Riverside Meadows Academy?
- The headteacher of Riverside Meadows Academy is Ms Kate Lovegrove, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Riverside Meadows Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Riverside Meadows 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 Riverside Meadows Academy?
- Riverside Meadows Academy has 120 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Riverside Meadows Academy full?
- Riverside Meadows Academy has capacity for 120 pupils and 120 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 Riverside Meadows Academy a faith school?
- No. Riverside Meadows Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Riverside Meadows Academy part of an academy trust?
- Riverside Meadows Academy is part of HORIZONS EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Riverside Meadows Academy have?
- The schools register lists Riverside Meadows Academy's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Riverside Meadows Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 9 in 2022/23 and 6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Riverside Meadows Academy's absence rate?
- Riverside Meadows Academy's overall absence rate is 31.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Riverside Meadows Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Riverside Meadows 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 2 July 2026.