The Rawlett School (An Aet Academy) Review 2026: A large Tamworth secondary focused on consistency and culture

A big 11–16 secondary serving Tamworth and nearby villages, with capacity for 1,260 students, and a clear ambition to tighten day-to-day standards. Leadership is structured around an Executive Principal, Jasmine Woodward, supported by a Head of School, Tom Martin, alongside a wider senior team.

The latest Ofsted inspection took place on 10 and 11 June 2025, and graded the school as Requires Improvement across quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

Parents weighing this school are usually balancing practicality with trajectory. The headline question is less about what is being attempted, and more about how reliably it is being delivered across subjects and classrooms.

This is a school talking openly about improvement and the practical work behind it. The website language is consistent: calm classrooms, purposeful routines, and a clear belief that students do best when expectations are high and applied fairly.

A distinctive feature is the relationship between the school and its trust. Lift Schools is not a background detail here, it is central to the improvement strategy, with the trust described as working closely with leaders on curriculum ambition and accessibility. That can mean sharper curriculum planning, more training, and more standardisation, which suits some families well, particularly those who value clear systems.

Students, however, are not experiencing a single uniform version of the school day yet. The most recent inspection evidence points to pockets of strong practice alongside inconsistency, especially where staffing disruption has affected continuity. In practical terms, that means a child’s experience may still depend more than it should on subject and class group, rather than a fully settled whole-school standard.

On FindMySchool’s GCSE outcomes ranking, the school is ranked 2,168th in England and 1st in Tamworth. This reflects solid performance overall, in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

The 2024 Attainment 8 score was 42.7, and Progress 8 was -0.44.

For families, the key implication of a negative Progress 8 score is that, across the cohort, students are not yet making the progress typically seen nationally from similar starting points. That does not mean every student underachieves. It does mean the school’s improvement work needs to land consistently across classrooms, so that outcomes are not overly dependent on individual teachers or departments.

Where the school helps itself is in publishing a clean, parent-friendly snapshot of its key stage 4 picture, including English and maths combined measures alongside Progress 8 and Attainment 8. Used well, these measures let families track whether the improvement narrative is translating into measurable gains year on year.

If you are comparing with nearby schools, the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool is the quickest way to put local GCSE outcomes side by side without jumping between multiple sites.

Curriculum intent is clear: a calm, purposeful environment, and a “relevant curriculum” designed to build skills and knowledge for future life. The practical test is implementation, and the most recent inspection evidence makes the central issue explicit: the knowledge pupils should learn has been identified, but practice does not always build securely and sequentially on prior learning across subjects.

Where delivery is strong, teaching is underpinned by secure subject knowledge and clear explanations, which enables students to connect new material to what came before. Where it is weaker, unclear explanations and inconsistent feedback lead to gaps in knowledge and incomplete work. The implication for parents is simple: homework support and revision routines matter more when classroom explanation and checking for understanding varies.

Key stage 4 pathway design is more structured than some parents expect of a comprehensive 11–16 school. The published model sets core subjects, with an expectation that most students take French, and that many will also take either geography or history, supporting breadth and future options. For a student who benefits from a guided pathway, this can be helpful. For a student who needs a more bespoke balance of academic and practical options, it is worth exploring how flexible the pathway allocation is in practice.

Reading has been prioritised, with specific strategies for students who have fallen behind. That focus is sensible in an 11–16 setting, because reading fluency is a gatekeeper skill for every GCSE subject.

Where Students Go Next

There is no sixth form, so every student transitions at 16. The school’s careers programme is explicit that students will need to apply to sixth forms, colleges, or apprenticeships elsewhere, and it highlights structured careers guidance supported by the Unifrog platform.

The June 2025 inspection evidence also points to a carefully planned careers programme and indicates that almost all pupils move into education, training, or employment at the end of Year 11. That matters because, in an 11–16 school, the quality of guidance and the strength of local provider links often shapes post-16 outcomes as much as GCSE grades do.

A practical tip for Year 10 families is to treat post-16 planning as a Year 10 task, not a Year 11 scramble. Ask early how employer encounters, college talks, and application support are scheduled across the year, and how the school supports students who are considering apprenticeships as well as A-level routes.

Year 7 admissions follow the local authority coordinated process, with applications made through the Common Application Form. The school’s own admissions guidance highlights the statutory national closing date of 31 October, and notes an open evening that typically runs in early October.

For September 2026 entry, Staffordshire’s published timeline confirms applications opened on 1 September 2025 and closed on 31 October 2025, with outcomes issued on National Offer Day, 2 March 2026.

The Published Admission Number is 252 for Year 7. Oversubscription is decided by priority order, including looked-after children, siblings, catchment, and named partner primary schools, then distance as a tie-break within categories. The catchment description includes areas such as Clifton Campville, Coton Green, Drayton Bassett, Elford, Mile Oak, Fazeley, Bonehill, Hopwas, Harlaston, and Wigginton, among others.

Because distance criteria can be decisive when a year is oversubscribed, families should use FindMySchoolMap Search to sense-check realistic travel and proximity, then confirm details against the local authority process for the relevant year of entry.

Pastoral structure is detailed and explicit on the school site, including tutor systems, year leadership, and a named student welfare officer. The wellbeing page also describes targeted weekly sessions and a referral approach that can draw on external agencies when additional support is needed.

The practical strength here is clarity: families can see where support sits, and how concerns are expected to be escalated. For many students, that reduces friction, particularly during the transition into Year 7, when organisation, friendships, and confidence can wobble.

Ofsted confirmed that safeguarding arrangements were effective at the time of the June 2025 inspection. The main pastoral question for families, therefore, is not whether the framework exists, but whether behaviour routines and bullying response are experienced as consistent and reliable across the school day.

Enrichment is a visible part of school life, and it is not limited to sport. Students can access structured leadership opportunities through year councils and transition ambassador roles, which is a useful model for building confidence and responsibility in an 11–16 setting.

The school’s published enrichment examples include Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at Bronze, Silver, and Gold level. That is a meaningful commitment rather than a token offer, because DofE requires staff capacity, training, and sustained follow-through over months. The implication for students is a clear pathway for volunteering, skills development, and expedition experience, which can suit teenagers who respond well to goals and milestones.

Clubs with a clear identity also show up in the personal development listings. Magic Club runs weekly at lunchtime and is framed around confidence, creativity, and performance skills. Debate Club is also positioned as a weekly lunchtime space focused on current affairs, ethics, and public speaking practice, led by staff. Lego Group adds a quieter, practical option centred on teamwork, design, and problem-solving.

Facilities are unusually strong for a state secondary because the school runs a community leisure centre on site. Indoor provision includes a four-court sports centre, a sprung wooden gymnasium, a dance studio, meeting rooms, and a 200-seat theatre, with outdoor facilities including a floodlit full-size 3G pitch and floodlit courts. For families, that breadth increases the chance that a student finds at least one space where they feel competent and motivated, which often feeds back into attendance and behaviour.

The published school day runs from tutor time at 08:25 to the end of period 6 at 15:00, followed by after-school intervention and enrichment activities until 16:00.

Breakfast club is offered, with booking required, and the site also references after-school club provision, though the published page is generic and does not set clear school-specific timings or pricing, so families should confirm the current offer directly.

As a state school, there are no tuition fees. Day-to-day costs are more likely to relate to uniform, trips, and optional activities, and these vary by year group and personal choices.

• Consistency is the central issue. The most recent inspection evidence points to variable curriculum delivery and uneven classroom practice across subjects. For families, this makes it important to ask how leaders are checking consistency, especially in core GCSE subjects.

• Low-level disruption still affects learning in some lessons. Behaviour expectations are described as high, but not yet reliably met in every classroom, which can frustrate students who learn best in calm conditions.

• Bullying response is an area to probe. Systems exist, but students reported that bullying is not always resolved effectively. Families should ask how concerns are logged, escalated, and followed through, and what response times look like.

• All students move on at 16. With no sixth form, post-16 planning is essential. Families should explore how early applications and provider engagement are built into Year 10 and Year 11, particularly for students considering technical routes.

The Rawlett School (An Aet Academy) is a large local secondary with strong facilities, visible enrichment, and a clear improvement narrative focused on calm routines and curriculum ambition. Best suited to families who want a practical Tamworth option with broad on-site opportunities, and who are prepared to engage closely with how consistency is being secured across departments. The limiting factor for the school’s reputation is not the ambition, it is the reliability of delivery from classroom to classroom.