Daubeney Academy Review 2026: A tightly run 11–16 in Kempston, with behaviour and personal development rated Outstanding

Daubeney Academy sits at the heart of Kempston as a mixed 11 to 16 secondary, with a school size that feels deliberately manageable rather than sprawling. The structure of the day makes that clear, with a dedicated Personal Development slot before lessons and a consistent rhythm that keeps routines predictable for students and families.

The most recent Ofsted inspection (1 and 2 July 2025) graded Behaviour and attitudes, Personal development, and Leadership and management as Outstanding, with Quality of education graded Good.

For families, the headline is straightforward. This is a school where expectations are explicit, student leadership is visible, and culture is treated as a core part of the job. The academic picture is more mixed, with progress broadly in line with national patterns, and attainment that sits below many peers. The key question is fit: whether you want a highly structured environment that prioritises calm, inclusion, and strong conduct, alongside a curriculum that is still tightening consistency across every subject.

There is a very intentional language to how Daubeney describes itself. The phrase Nurturing First Class Futures appears repeatedly, and it is reinforced through practical symbols, including class badges and a set of values framed around Consistency, Learning, Ambition, Standards and Success.

Student voice is not treated as a bolt-on. The student leadership model spans multiple roles, including School Council, Learning Leaders, School Ambassadors, Prefects, House Captains, Sports Leaders, Librarians, Transition Buddies, and Reading Champions. The underlying implication for parents is that pupils who respond well to responsibility, and who like being part of the running of a place, can find a clear route to influence and recognition.

One of the most distinctive features of school culture is the house system, which has been built around local connections and role models researched by the School Council. The four houses are Abrahams (Harold Abrahams), Boatswain (Jacqueline Boatswain), Walmsley (Amy Walmsley), and Whittemore (Lieutenant Frederick Whittemore), a blend of sport, arts, civic history, and service that aligns with the school’s emphasis on character as well as achievement. House points, weekly updates, and competitions give the culture a constant drumbeat.

Daubeney’s present-day identity also sits in a wider story. The school began life as Daubeney Middle School, created in 1972 and named after the Manor of Kempston Daubeney. For families with longer ties to the area, that continuity matters, even as the age range and governance have evolved.

At GCSE level, the most useful starting point is the combined picture rather than a single statistic. Daubeney’s Attainment 8 score is 35.6, and its Progress 8 score is 0.02, which indicates outcomes broadly in line with expectations for students’ starting points.

Rankings provide additional context for parents comparing local options. Ranked 3502nd in England and 17th in Bedford for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking, based on official data), Daubeney sits below England average overall, even while it has clear strengths in culture and in how learning time is protected.

Subject pathway choices matter here. The average EBacc APS score is 3.08, and the school is working to increase the proportion of pupils completing the English Baccalaureate by strengthening the humanities offer. This is relevant for families who want a more traditional academic mix at Key Stage 4, as well as for students considering post-16 routes that benefit from a broad foundation.

A practical way to use these figures is comparative rather than absolute. Parents weighing options across Bedford Borough can use the FindMySchool Local Hub page and Comparison Tool to view GCSE performance side by side, then balance that against what the inspection evidence says about behaviour, safety, and day-to-day consistency.

The school day is designed to protect learning time and reinforce routine. Students begin with Personal Development at 08:40, followed by five one-hour lessons, with the day ending at 15:15 after PM form. Wednesdays run slightly differently, with a later start at 09:10.

The curriculum intent places strong emphasis on sequencing and revisiting knowledge so students build secure understanding over time, supported by planned retrieval and a focus on vocabulary, literacy, and oracy. The implication is that students who benefit from structured teaching and frequent checks on understanding should find the approach supportive, particularly in the core.

The inspection evidence points to a school that has tightened consistency in how the curriculum is taught, particularly in English, mathematics, and science, and is now concentrating on ensuring the same level of precision across every subject area. That matters for families because it signals a school moving from improvement activity to standardised classroom practice, with the remaining work being about depth and consistency outside the core rather than basic order.

Support for students who need additional help appears to be organised around timely intervention, including targeted support for students with special educational needs and disabilities and for those who speak English as an additional language. In practical terms, this is likely to suit families who want clear systems and quick access to support, rather than informal, ad hoc arrangements.

Where Students Go Next

As an 11 to 16 school, the key transition is post-16. Daubeney frames this through careers education and guidance that is intended to help students investigate and evaluate routes including further study, training, and apprenticeships. The school also references the requirement to provide information about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships, which signals that vocational and technical pathways are treated as credible options rather than a fallback.

For families, the implication is that Daubeney can be a sensible choice for students who want structured support in making a post-16 plan, including those who do not yet have a fixed idea of what comes next. The strongest fit is often a student who responds to guidance, attends consistently, and will take advantage of planned exposure to different pathways.

Admissions are coordinated through the local authority process for secondary transfer, with the School Transfer 2026 booklet emphasising the importance of applying by 31 October 2025 for September 2026 entry, with offers released on 2 March 2026 (National Offer Day).

Daubeney’s own admissions information highlights that open events are advertised locally and on the school website, and it notes that priority is given to pupils from Springfield Primary School. For families connected to Springfield, this can be a meaningful advantage in an oversubscribed environment, and it is worth understanding how the admissions criteria are structured before assuming proximity alone will be enough.

Demand is real rather than theoretical. In the Bedford Borough summary, Daubeney’s admission number is shown as 150 with 167 requests received for September 2025, a straightforward indicator that the school can fill places and that allocation rules matter.

Parents who are weighing multiple schools should use the FindMySchoolMap Search to sense-check practical travel and to compare realistic daily journeys. Even when admissions are not purely distance-based, travel time remains one of the best predictors of day-to-day family experience.

Pastoral support is structured and visible. The safeguarding team is named on the school site, including a Designated Safeguarding Lead and a Pupil Safeguarding Lead, which indicates clear internal accountability rather than a generic statement of intent.

The school day includes explicit time for personal development, and the enrichment model reinforces belonging through both leadership roles and the house system. The practical implication is that students who need routine, predictable expectations, and a clear sense of how to earn trust and recognition are likely to settle well.

According to the July 2025 Ofsted report, safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Extracurricular provision is unusually well specified, and it reads like an operational timetable rather than a marketing list. That matters because it tells parents what students can actually do, when, and where.

At lunchtime, examples include KS3 Basketball, The Big Paint, Art club, Film club, Dance club, and a KS3 ECO club. The implication is that creative activities are not confined to after-school slots, and that students who have caring responsibilities, transport constraints, or after-school commitments still have access to structured enrichment during the day.

After school, the offer includes Homework club, Chess Club, Cooking club, Science club, Lego club, Newspaper club, and a themed Sci Fi and Dystopia club, plus a performing arts strand that has included Aladdin the Musical. This blend suits both students who want quiet, study-adjacent spaces and those who want identity-building clubs with a clear theme.

Sport is also timetabled with clarity. The PE clubs schedule includes activities such as trampolining, futsal, basketball, netball, table tennis, athletics, and badminton, with several marked as open to all students. The implication is that sport is not reserved for a narrow performance group, and that students can try activities without needing to be part of a team selection pipeline.

Breakfast Club runs before school, adding another layer of practical support for families managing early starts, and it also provides a calm transition into the day for students who benefit from arriving ahead of the main flow.

The published school day begins with Personal Development at 08:40 and finishes at 15:15, with a later start on Wednesdays at 09:10.

Breakfast Club runs from 08:15 to 08:40, and after-school activities commonly run in the 15:15 to 16:15 window, which can help working families plan collection and travel.

For travel, Kempston is closely connected to Bedford by local roads and bus routes, and families coming from further afield often plan around Bedford’s transport links. For the most accurate day-to-day picture, it is worth testing your route at peak times, as the experience of drop-off and collection can be very different from an off-peak drive.

• Academic outcomes sit below many peers. The GCSE ranking and Attainment 8 score suggest that results are an area to scrutinise closely, particularly for families prioritising high attainment over all else. The school’s strongest story is culture and consistency; families may want to ask how subject-by-subject improvements are being embedded beyond the core.

• Variation between subjects is still a live issue. The latest inspection highlights that, in some subjects, staff are still at an earlier stage of training to teach and assess the curriculum as intended. This matters most for students who are already stretched by certain subjects, as consistency is often what prevents small gaps becoming persistent ones.

• Oversubscription is modest but real. The local admissions summary shows more requests than places in the most recently published cycle. Families should treat the criteria as decisive, not optional reading, especially if relying on a late move or a non-standard route.

• This is an 11 to 16 school. Post-16 progression will be to other providers. For many students that is a positive fresh start, but families who strongly prefer continuity into a sixth form should factor that into their shortlist and visit plans.

Daubeney Academy’s clearest strengths are structure, conduct, and a culture where students are trusted with responsibility. The inspection judgements and the level of detail in enrichment planning reinforce the sense of a school that runs on clear routines rather than improvisation.

It best suits families who want an orderly secondary experience in Kempston, and whose child will respond well to explicit expectations, strong pastoral systems, and a busy menu of clubs that includes both academic support and creative outlets. The main trade-off is academic outcomes, which look weaker than the school’s culture, and which families should explore subject by subject during open events and meetings.