Smestow Academy - The School Companion

Smestow Academy

Wolverhampton · WV3 8HU

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 589 pupils, 59.1% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 11.4% on SEN support Behaviour 8.3% absence rate Staff 15.3% turnover Financials £9,931 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Smestow Academy

General Information

Address: Windmill Crescent, Wolverhampton, WV3 8HU – View on map
Phone: 01902539500
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Ian Chamberlain
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 40 families put it first for 85 places – 5 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 2 of the 85 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 2 · 2024 2 · 2025 2 · 2026 5
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

589 pupils out of 1010 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 316
% eligible for free school meals: 59.1%
Pupil mix: 9 in 10 (more mixed than the Wolverhampton average)
English as an additional language: 38% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 15.3% a year (Wolverhampton 15.3%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 70% moved to another school, 30% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 2 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Wolverhampton: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 26 (1.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 32 (1.5 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 14 (0.6 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Wolverhampton, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 8.3%
Persistently absent pupils: 26.8%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 11.4%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 1.4%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Specific learning difficulty: 18 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 17 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 14 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 6 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 4 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 3 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card November 2025

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
Sixth form (post-16) Expected standard
Leadership and governance Strong standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Inadequate (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 42.6
Compared with the area: 3.0 points below the Wolverhampton average (45.6)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (+0.1 points against an expected 42.5)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 60% (Wolverhampton 62%, England 65%) Broadly steady
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolWolverhampton averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2023/24 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 3.0 points below the Wolverhampton average (45.6).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

13th of 21 secondary schools in Wolverhampton for Attainment 8

#11Aldersley High School43.5
#12The Royal School, Wolverhampton43.3
#13Smestow Academy42.6
#14Ormiston SWB Academy42.0
#15St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall41.4

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Wolverhampton Girls' High School75.4
#2Thomas Telford University Technical College53.7
#3Highfields School51.7
#4St Edmund's Catholic Academy50.2
#5The Khalsa Academy Wolverhampton49.4
#6Heath Park49.3
#7Wednesfield Academy44.9
#8Moseley Park44.8
#9St Peter's Collegiate Academy44.8
#10Coppice Performing Arts School43.8
#11Aldersley High School43.5
#12The Royal School, Wolverhampton43.3
#13Smestow Academy42.6
#14Ormiston SWB Academy42.0
#15St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall41.4
#16St Matthias School40.6
#17Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy40.4
#18Moreton School39.3
#19Colton Hills Community School39.2
#20St Regis Church of England Academy36.5
#21Ormiston NEW Academy35.7

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
Science Double Award
Geography
French Language
History
Psychology (General)
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Physics (General)
Religious Studies
Art & Design
Media Studies
Italian
Urdu
Spanish
Punjabi
Turkish
Persian Language
Polish

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £9,931 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

2nd of 21 secondary schools in Wolverhampton for spending per pupil

#1St Matthias School£10,747
#2Smestow Academy£9,931
#3Highfields School£9,017
#4The Royal School, Wolverhampton£8,685

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1St Matthias School£10,747
#2Smestow Academy£9,931
#3Highfields School£9,017
#4The Royal School, Wolverhampton£8,685
#5Ormiston NEW Academy£8,679
#6Ormiston SWB Academy£8,415
#7Heath Park£8,271
#8St Thomas More Catholic School, Willenhall£8,257
#9St Regis Church of England Academy£8,238
#10Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy£8,177
#11Aldersley High School£8,130
#12Wednesfield Academy£7,988
#13Moreton School£7,952
#14The Khalsa Academy Wolverhampton£7,770
#15Coppice Performing Arts School£7,675
#16St Edmund's Catholic Academy£7,540
#17Colton Hills Community School£7,521
#18St Peter's Collegiate Academy£7,512
#19Moseley Park£7,487
#20Thomas Telford University Technical College£7,320
#21Wolverhampton Girls' High School£6,473

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Wolverhampton: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered