State secondary schools in Suffolk
42 schools · East of England · 2024/25 Department for Education figures
Suffolk has 42 state secondaries, 18 of them with sixth forms. 92.7% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 17.9% to 68.1% passing English and maths, a spread of 50 points, with a middle school at 41.6%, below England's 45.4%.
Of those Ofsted has graded, 26 Good, 5 Requires improvement. 11 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.
Suffolk against England
State-funded schools, 2024/25
Getting a place
2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Suffolk
92.7%
Got their first choiceof those who applied
England 84%
97.7%
Got one of their threefirst, second or third
0%
Got no offer at allfrom any preference
17%
Appeals upheld22 of 128 heard
These are figures for Suffolk as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works
How much the choice matters here
Across Suffolk's 42 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 18% to 68%. That is a spread of 50 percentage points, about typical.
The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.
Suffolk schools, subject by subject
The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.
- 1 Debenham High School Stowmarket · 136 entries 91%
- 2 Sybil Andrews Academy Bury St. Edmunds · 98 entries 89%
- 3 Hartismere School Eye · 154 entries 82%
- 4 St Benedict's Catholic School Bury St Edmunds · 153 entries 82%
- 5 Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form Woodbridge · 158 entries 82%
- 6 Newmarket Academy Newmarket · 157 entries 80%
- 7 Stradbroke High School Eye · 53 entries 79%
- 8 Sir John Leman High School Beccles · 239 entries 79%
- 9 Copleston High School Ipswich · 299 entries 79%
- 10 Stowupland High School Stowmarket · 158 entries 78%
- 11 St Alban's Catholic High School Ipswich · 172 entries 77%
- 12 Northgate High School Ipswich · 241 entries 76%
- 13 East Bergholt High School Colchester · 182 entries 76%
- 14 Hadleigh High School Ipswich · 148 entries 74%
- 15 Ixworth High School Ixworth · 94 entries 73%
- 16 King Edward VI CEVC School Bury St Edmunds · 217 entries 71%
- 17 Thurston Community College Bury St Edmunds · 260 entries 71%
- 18 Bury St Edmunds County High School Bury St Edmunds · 164 entries 71%
- 19 Kesgrave High School Ipswich · 304 entries 71%
- 20 Beccles High School Beccles · 37 entries 70%
- 21 Claydon High School Ipswich · 151 entries 70%
- 22 Thomas Gainsborough School Sudbury · 250 entries 69%
- 23 Breckland School Brandon · 102 entries 69%
- 24 Ormiston Denes Academy Lowestoft · 127 entries 65%
- 25 Stowmarket High School Stowmarket · 173 entries 65%
- 26 Pakefield High School Lowestoft · 136 entries 65%
- 27 Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and Mathematics Lowestoft · 229 entries 65%
- 28 Stour Valley Community School Sudbury · 111 entries 64%
- 29 Bungay High School Bungay · 178 entries 63%
- 30 Holbrook Academy Ipswich · 114 entries 62%
- 31 Castle Manor Academy Haverhill · 135 entries 62%
- 32 Ormiston Endeavour Academy Ipswich · 108 entries 62%
- 33 Farlingaye High School Woodbridge · 279 entries 62%
- 34 Mildenhall College Academy Mildenhall · 213 entries 58%
- 35 Samuel Ward Academy Haverhill · 192 entries 57%
- 36 East Point Academy Lowestoft · 147 entries 57%
- 37 Ormiston Sudbury Academy Sudbury · 95 entries 57%
- 38 Felixstowe School Felixstowe · 211 entries 52%
- 39 Ipswich Academy Ipswich · 186 entries 52%
- 40 Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy Ipswich · 136 entries 51%
- 41 Chantry Academy Ipswich · 168 entries 50%
- 42 Alde Valley Academy Leiston · 128 entries 45%
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Every school in Suffolk
Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.
6 of 42 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.
- Alde Valley Academy Leiston · Requires improvement. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 24%
- Attainment 8
- 33.7
- Absence
- 26%
- Beccles High School Beccles · Requires improvement.
- Eng & maths
- 18%
- Attainment 8
- 27.6
- Absence
- 40%
- Benjamin Britten Academy of Music and Mathematics Lowestoft · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 46%
- Attainment 8
- 44.9
- Absence
- 22%
- Breckland School Brandon · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 33%
- Attainment 8
- 42.4
- Absence
- 25%
- Bungay High School Bungay · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 36%
- Attainment 8
- 41.7
- Absence
- 24%
- Bury St Edmunds County High School Bury St Edmunds · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 53%
- Attainment 8
- 49.8
- Absence
- 24%
- Castle Manor Academy Haverhill · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 32%
- Attainment 8
- 40.3
- Absence
- 26%
- Chantry Academy Ipswich · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 26%
- Attainment 8
- 33.9
- Absence
- 18%
- Claydon High School Ipswich · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 42%
- Attainment 8
- 45
- Absence
- 17%
- Copleston High School Ipswich · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 48%
- Attainment 8
- 46.9
- Absence
- 19%
- Debenham High School Stowmarket · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 68%
- Attainment 8
- 55.7
- Absence
- 17%
- East Bergholt High School Colchester · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 48%
- Attainment 8
- 47.8
- Absence
- 22%
- East Point Academy Lowestoft · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 43%
- Attainment 8
- 39.5
- Absence
- 26%
- Farlingaye High School Woodbridge · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 40%
- Attainment 8
- 43.8
- Absence
- 26%
- Felixstowe School Felixstowe · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 27%
- Attainment 8
- 38.5
- Absence
- 32%
- Hadleigh High School Ipswich · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 40%
- Attainment 8
- 43.6
- Absence
- 23%
- Hartismere School Eye · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 58%
- Attainment 8
- 53
- Absence
- 20%
- Holbrook Academy Ipswich · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 34%
- Attainment 8
- 41.2
- Absence
- 23%
- Ipswich Academy Ipswich · Requires improvement.
- Eng & maths
- 30%
- Attainment 8
- 37.6
- Absence
- 28%
- Ixworth High School Ixworth · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 37%
- Attainment 8
- 44
- Absence
- 24%
- Kesgrave High School Ipswich · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 52%
- Attainment 8
- 49.7
- Absence
- 19%
- King Edward VI CEVC School Bury St Edmunds · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 38%
- Attainment 8
- 45.4
- Absence
- 22%
- Mildenhall College Academy Mildenhall · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 27%
- Attainment 8
- 37.4
- Absence
- 21%
- Newmarket Academy Newmarket · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 46%
- Attainment 8
- 45.9
- Absence
- 18%
- Northgate High School Ipswich · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 55%
- Attainment 8
- 50.6
- Absence
- 21%
- Ormiston Denes Academy Lowestoft · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 30%
- Attainment 8
- 40.5
- Absence
- 27%
- Ormiston Endeavour Academy Ipswich · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 34%
- Attainment 8
- 42.8
- Absence
- 24%
- Ormiston Sudbury Academy Sudbury · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 42%
- Attainment 8
- 39.6
- Absence
- 22%
- Pakefield High School Lowestoft · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 28%
- Attainment 8
- 38.4
- Absence
- 25%
- Samuel Ward Academy Haverhill · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 42%
- Attainment 8
- 43.8
- Absence
- 25%
- Sir John Leman High School Beccles · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 41%
- Attainment 8
- 44.8
- Absence
- 21%
- St Alban's Catholic High School Ipswich · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 42%
- Attainment 8
- 46.9
- Absence
- 23%
- St Benedict's Catholic School Bury St Edmunds · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 50%
- Attainment 8
- 49.8
- Absence
- 16%
- Stoke High School - Ormiston Academy Ipswich · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 22%
- Attainment 8
- 34.3
- Absence
- 27%
- Stour Valley Community School Sudbury · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 43%
- Attainment 8
- 44.5
- Absence
- 24%
- Stowmarket High School Stowmarket · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 35%
- Attainment 8
- 40.5
- Absence
- 19%
- Stowupland High School Stowmarket · Requires improvement.
- Eng & maths
- 40%
- Attainment 8
- 41.1
- Absence
- 24%
- Stradbroke High School Eye · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 47%
- Attainment 8
- 44.3
- Absence
- 21%
- Sybil Andrews Academy Bury St. Edmunds · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 56%
- Attainment 8
- 49.5
- Absence
- 18%
- Thomas Gainsborough School Sudbury · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 46%
- Attainment 8
- 46.1
- Absence
- 20%
- Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form Woodbridge · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 46%
- Attainment 8
- 48.4
- Absence
- 19%
- Thurston Community College Bury St Edmunds · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 51%
- Attainment 8
- 46.9
- Absence
- 20%
Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.
Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25
A levels in Suffolk
16 of Suffolk's 18 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.
- Farlingaye High School Woodbridge C+ 23%
- Mildenhall College Academy Mildenhall D+ 23%
- Hartismere School Eye C 18%
- St Benedict's Catholic School Bury St Edmunds C 15%
- Thomas Gainsborough School Sudbury B- 14%
- Northgate High School Ipswich C+ 14%
- Stowupland High School Stowmarket C 11%
- Kesgrave High School Ipswich C- 10%
- Felixstowe School Felixstowe C 10%
- St Alban's Catholic High School Ipswich C 10%
- Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form Woodbridge D+ 10%
- Sir John Leman High School Beccles C 9%
- Bungay High School Bungay C 9%
- Thurston Community College Bury St Edmunds C 8%
- Copleston High School Ipswich C+ 6%
- Samuel Ward Academy Haverhill C 3%
A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.
Bordering Suffolk
Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.
What these mean
- Attainment 8
- The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
- Grades 4 and 5
- GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
- Persistent absence
- The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
- First preference
- The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
- Spare places
- The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
- Average A-level grade
- The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.