Westbourne Academy

Ipswich · IP1 5JN

General information Secondary School · 11-16 years Who goes here 989 pupils, 38.6% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted and results

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 11.3% on SEN support Behaviour Data received Staff 17.1% turnover Financials £7,766 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

FOI Transparency How openly this school shares data

Cooperative 70 /100

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Westbourne Academy

General Information

Address: Marlow Road, Ipswich, IP1 5JN – View on map
Phone: 01473742315
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr Martin Higgon
Age range: 11-16 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 129 families put it first for 173 places – 7 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 9 · 2024 8 · 2025 8 · 2026 7
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

989 pupils out of 1120 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 381
% eligible for free school meals: 38.6%
Pupil mix: 7 in 10 (more mixed than the Ipswich average)
English as an additional language: 39% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 17.1% a year (Ipswich 13.1%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 52% moved to another school, 48% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 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.

Supply and cover teaching

Classes taught mainly by supply or cover staff for half a term or more: 42 (a full term or more: 35)
Teaching posts vacant or only temporarily filled during the year: 0
Days of supply or agency teacher cover: 189
Data year: 2025/26 (from the school, under Freedom of Information)

Government figures only count teachers on contracts of 28 days or more, so a class covered by a run of supply teachers doesn't show up in them – which is why we ask schools directly.

Behaviour

Data received 2025/26

About this Behaviour status

Real figures are in below, but not enough other schools of this type have reported yet to rank this one against peers.

Reading the numbers: higher figures below often mean a school records thoroughly and takes concerns seriously, rather than more incidents happening. A school reporting unusually low figures sometimes has a reporting gap rather than a problem-free intake. If a figure stands out, it's worth asking the school how it records.

Data year: 2025/26
Bullying incidents: 20
Physical aggression / violence incidents: 150
Child protection referrals: 47
Safeguarding concerns: 183
Racist incidents: 84
Suspensions (fixed-term exclusions): 1302
Permanent exclusions: 23
Sexual harassment or sexual violence between pupils (recorded incidents): 63 (led to a suspension or exclusion: 137; referred to social care or police: 6) – a higher number can mean a school takes reports seriously and records them carefully

See the bullying figures for every school in Ipswich →

Figures may show "<5" for some schools.

What does "<5" mean?

A figure shown as "<5" means the real number is below 5 - the standard convention for this kind of data, used to avoid identifying individual pupils. Different schools may also record and define incidents differently, so read comparisons with care.

Across Suffolk: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 97 (2.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 4
Suspensions for bullying: 73 (1.6 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 45 (1.0 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 Suffolk (the council area this school is in), 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: 13.0%
Persistently absent pupils: 35.6%
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: 11.3%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 6.1%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 34 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 29 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 29 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 5 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 5 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 20 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 14 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 11 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 7 pupils
Physical disability: 5 pupils

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

–

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 –

This score reflects how openly the school responded to our Freedom of Information request. Schools that withhold information are rated lower — even the act of hiding data tells parents something about a school’s openness.

Response: Full response (+60)
Timeliness: Response date not recorded (+10)
Optional data: No optional data (+0)

Exemplary (80–100) · Cooperative (60–79) · Reluctant (40–59) · Obstructive (20–39) · Opaque (0–19)

Educational Attainment

No overall grade given 2025 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted stopped giving single overall grades for a period between September 2024 and November 2025 - this school's most recent inspection falls in that window, so there's no single rating to show, even though it was inspected. The full report (linked below) still has the detail.

Attainment 8 score: 39.7
Compared with the area: 2.8 points below the Ipswich average (42.5)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Below (−4.8 points against an expected 44.5)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 52% (Ipswich 59%, 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 schoolIpswich averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 2.8 points below the Ipswich average (42.5).

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.

5th of 8 secondary schools in Ipswich for Attainment 8

#3St Alban's Catholic High School46.9
#4Ormiston Endeavour Academy42.8
#5Westbourne Academy39.7
#6Ipswich Academy37.6
#7Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy34.3

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Northgate High School50.6
#2Copleston High School46.9
#3St Alban's Catholic High School46.9
#4Ormiston Endeavour Academy42.8
#5Westbourne Academy39.7
#6Ipswich Academy37.6
#7Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy34.3
#8Chantry Academy33.9

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 85.0%
Went into further education: 80.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
Science Double Award
Geography
History
Religious Studies
Art & Design
Spanish
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Physics (General)
Business Studies
Computer Science
Music Studies (General)
D & T
Speech & Drama
Polish
Russian
Portuguese
French Language
German
Turkish
Community Development
Statistics

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: £7,766 (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 8 secondary schools in Ipswich for spending per pupil

#1Ipswich Academy£8,147
#2Westbourne Academy£7,766
#3Chantry Academy£7,730
#4St Alban's Catholic High School£7,357

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

#1Ipswich Academy£8,147
#2Westbourne Academy£7,766
#3Chantry Academy£7,730
#4St Alban's Catholic High School£7,357
#5Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy£7,105
#6Ormiston Endeavour Academy£6,961
#7Northgate High School£6,797
#8Copleston High School£6,594

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

Environment

Data received 2025/26

About this Environment status

Based on real information requested under Freedom of Information, covering step-free access, specialist facilities, classroom climate, and technology provision.

Accessibility

Step-free for pupils, staff and visitors: No
Overall accessibility: Partially
Lifts for pupil use: Yes
Accessible toilets: Yes
Changing Places facility: Yes

Climate

Classrooms with air conditioning: 4.3%
Mechanical ventilation: Yes - some classrooms
Air cooling units: Yes - some classrooms
Shaded outdoor areas: Some
Heatwave procedures: Yes - informal arrangements

Technology

Pupil devices (approx.): 413
Pupils per device: 3:1
Digital display in every classroom: Yes
Interactive whiteboards: Yes - some classrooms
1:1 pupil device programme: No
Coding / robotics equipment: Yes - Students code using Scratch 3, a block coding programming language and Python 3, a text based programming language. They can go on to coding at GCSE Computer Science from year 10. All coding is currently carried out on Pcs using online based IDE's.
We also have some programmable hardware in the form of Raspbery Pis and some BBC micro bits. Students currently code using a BBC micro bit simulator online.
Assistive technology for SEND pupils: Yes - Speech to text and text to speech technology

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Supply and cover teaching

Behaviour

Across Suffolk: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Environment

Accessibility

Climate

Technology

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered