Thomas Alleyne’s High School Review 2026: Upper School with a Large Sixth Form and a Distinctive School Farm

A Year 9 start changes the rhythm of secondary education. Rather than joining at 11, students arrive at 13, after middle school, which can feel like a genuine reset point for confidence, friendships, and study habits. Thomas Alleyne’s High School serves Uttoxeter and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, and it combines a broad comprehensive intake with a sizeable sixth form.

The most recent inspection confirmed that standards are being maintained, with safeguarding judged effective, and a clear focus on high expectations, supportive relationships, and a curriculum designed to help students build from what they have learned in middle school.

Leadership has also moved on since that inspection. Lou Heywood became headteacher in 2025, having joined the school earlier as deputy headteacher, and she is in post as the school plans for expansion to meet local demand.

An upper school only works if transition is taken seriously. Here, that priority is visible in the way Year 9 is structured around belonging and routine. The tutor model gives students a consistent adult relationship at the start of each day, and the house system is used as the main organising framework for pastoral care and community. The four houses, Elkes, Orme, Torrance and Whitmore, are not a cosmetic add on. Each has a named staff lead and a dedicated student support assistant, which increases the chance that students are known quickly after arrival.

The values language is unusually explicit and practical. The school’s published values, including tenacity, mindfulness, being one community, and prioritising happiness and health, are written in plain English and are clearly designed to show students what “good” looks like in daily behaviour and relationships.

Most parents will read “large site” and imagine generic scale. The detail that matters is how that space is used. The school describes a site with more than 27 buildings, including specialist spaces for drama and design technology, a sports centre, and a refurbished swimming pool, plus recent additions including new changing rooms, a gym and extra classrooms. That breadth is relevant to fit. Students who learn best when school feels active and varied often do well in environments where practical subjects, sport, and performance have proper facilities rather than being squeezed into multipurpose rooms.

This school should be read as two connected phases, Key Stage 4 and post 16, with different performance profiles.

GCSE outcomes

For GCSE outcomes, the school’s FindMySchool ranking sits at 2,928 in England, with a local rank of 2 within the Uttoxeter area (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This places overall GCSE performance below England average, in the lower band. On the headline attainment measure, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 42.8. Progress 8 is -0.38, indicating that, on average, students made less progress than pupils with similar starting points across England. EBacc average point score is 3.53, compared with an England average of 4.08.

The practical implication for families is straightforward. This is not an exam driven outlier school, and high grades are more likely to be achieved by students who already have strong habits, secure prior learning, and a willingness to take advantage of support. For students who have had a disrupted middle school experience, the quality of transition and catch up matters as much as any single headline statistic, and the inspection narrative places real emphasis on addressing learning gaps and prioritising reading support where needed.

A-level and post 16 outcomes

At A level, the profile is closer to the England middle band. The school’s FindMySchool A-level ranking is 1,432 in England, again with a local rank of 2, which aligns with solid performance in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile). The grade breakdown shows 3.67% of entries at A*, 15.67% at A, and 45.33% at A* to B, compared with an England benchmark of 47.2% at A* to B.

The story this tells is that the sixth form appears to function as a stable platform, particularly for students who are organised, attend well, and use independent study time effectively. The inspection report also points to explicit teaching of sixth form study behaviours, such as note taking and structured feedback, which tends to benefit students who did not automatically pick up these habits earlier.

Parents comparing local options should use the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool to see these GCSE and A-level measures side by side with nearby schools serving the same community, since the three tier system can make like for like comparison less intuitive.

Curriculum design is one of the most important questions for an upper school. The inspection evidence describes an ambitious curriculum that sets out essential knowledge clearly, and it links that design to smoother transition from middle school and stronger sequencing of learning over time.

Science is a useful case study because it shows both structure and local relevance. Students begin GCSE science as soon as they join in Year 9. Most follow Combined Science, while the top sets take separate GCSEs in biology, chemistry and physics. The department explicitly links its work to the school farm, positioning it as a genuine learning resource rather than a novelty. The practical benefit is clear for some learners. Students with a preference for applied, real world contexts often retain knowledge better when theory is connected to tangible experiences.

The inspection report also identifies two improvement priorities that matter for day to day learning. First, in some lessons, students are moved on before misconceptions are fully addressed, which can create gaps that later limit recall. Second, the behaviour policy is not applied consistently by all staff, which can lead to uneven experiences between classrooms. Both are manageable issues, but families should ask, during visits and transition conversations, how the school is supporting staff consistency and how it checks learning before introducing new content.

The best destinations picture combines progression routes with what the school actually prepares students to do.

After Year 11

For many families, the core question is how “staying on” works. The sixth form is a significant part of the school, with recent inspection figures showing 250 students in post 16 provision. The sixth form offer includes dedicated spaces such as a common room, study areas, and IT facilities, which is often a meaningful factor for students who need quiet structure to manage independent work.

Post 18 progression

For the 2023/24 leaver cohort, 41% progressed to university, 35% moved into employment, and 11% started apprenticeships. These figures indicate a mixed economy outcome, which suits a comprehensive sixth form. It suggests the school is not narrowly focused on one pathway and that practical employment routes are a normal part of the destination picture rather than an afterthought.

Oxbridge numbers are small, as is typical for most comprehensive schools. In the most recent Oxbridge reporting cycle, two students applied and one secured a place, at Cambridge. The implication is not that Oxbridge is a mainstream route here, but that highly academic applications do occur and can be supported when the student is well matched to the process.

Enrichment that supports destinations

The sixth form enrichment list is unusually specific. Alongside the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), it references community service with the Uttoxeter Lions, Eco Team activity, leadership roles, student subject ambassadors, and structured work experience. That mix tends to help students build credible personal statements and apprenticeship applications, particularly those who do not have extensive family networks for professional work placements.

This is a state funded school, with admissions coordinated through local authority processes for the normal point of entry, and no tuition fees.

Key entry points

The school welcomes admissions into Year 9, Year 10, and Year 12, which reflects its position in Staffordshire’s upper school system. For most families, Year 9 is the main admissions moment. The published admission number for the normal year group is 320.

Oversubscription and priorities

If applications exceed available places, the admissions policy sets out a clear priority order. After children in care and specified exceptional circumstances, the policy gives priority to siblings, then catchment area children, then students attending designated contributory middle schools, and finally distance from the school gate measured by the local authority’s GIS straight line method. The contributory middle schools named are Oldfields Hall Middle School, Ryecroft CofE Middle School, and Windsor Park CE Middle School.

This matters because it shapes what “realistic chance” means. Families outside catchment, or outside the contributory school pipeline, should treat distance as the likely deciding factor once priority categories are exhausted.

Deadlines for September 2026 entry

For September 2026 entry to secondary or high school in Staffordshire, the application system opened on 01 September 2025 and closed on 31 October 2025, with National Offer Day on 02 March 2026. Open evenings for that cycle took place in September, with the local authority listing an open evening date for the school on 23 September 2025. For families planning ahead, the safest assumption is that open events typically run in September each year, but dates can shift, so it is sensible to check the current year’s schedule directly.

Sixth form admissions

The sixth form application route is described as an online process shared with internal Year 11 students, with external candidates asked to contact the school. The published admissions policy confirms that Year 12 entry must not be conditional on interview, while still allowing meetings for advice about options and entry requirements. Families considering Year 12 entry should ask early about subject availability and how the school manages oversubscription for popular courses.

The most useful wellbeing indicators are practical. First, the inspection evidence points to strong trusted adult relationships, with students confident that they can seek guidance when worried. Second, it describes a behaviour policy that students value for clear boundaries, alongside a recognition that consistency of application is not yet universal across staff.

The house structure supports this in an age appropriate way. Year 9 tutor time at the start of the day gives predictable check in, and the combination of heads of house plus full time student support assistants increases capacity for early intervention.

SEND support is also framed as a whole school offer. The school’s learning support description emphasises support across all year groups and abilities, with the aim of ensuring students can achieve their potential. Families of students with additional needs should still request specifics, for example what adjustments are typical in mainstream classes, how reading support is delivered, and how the school coordinates support at the Year 9 transition point.

The safeguarding judgement is clear. The arrangements were found to be effective in the most recent inspection.

This is a school where extracurricular life is grounded in facilities. A swimming pool is rare in the state sector, and it is referenced both in the inspection report and the school’s own description of the site. The school also maintains a working farm within the grounds, again referenced officially, and used as a learning resource within science and farm based courses.

Sport provision is broad and specific. Facilities listed include a sports hall, gymnasium, extensive playing fields, an astro turf pitch, a fitness centre, a climbing wall, and the swimming pool. Clubs and teams include athletics, badminton, basketball, cheerleading, cricket, dance, football, netball, rugby, tennis, climbing, and table tennis. The implication is that sporty students can find both casual participation and structured team pathways, while less confident students still have multiple entry points beyond traditional team sports.

Creative and academic enrichment is also visible in the detail. Art club is offered as a lunchtime and after school drop in, and GCSE and sixth form groups are offered visits to galleries in cities such as London, Liverpool and Birmingham. For older students, the sixth form enrichment menu includes EPQ, Eco Team activity, leadership routes, work experience, student subject ambassadors, and community service with the Uttoxeter Lions.

Duke of Edinburgh is a recurring theme across phases, and the inspection report also highlights international travel, referencing a Peru visit, which suggests that major trips are part of the culture rather than a one off.

STEM and future facilities

Looking forward matters because the school is planning for growth. In September 2025, Staffordshire County Council reported proposals to expand the school by 120 places, funded through developer contributions, including an innovation centre block, an electronic and computing studio with industry standard software, and expansion of an existing science laboratory. If delivered, that investment should strengthen STEM capacity and may widen subject choice and enrichment over time.

The school day starts at 08:40 with form time, and students in Years 9 to 13 finish at 15:10. Optional activities and clubs sit outside those hours, but families should not assume a primary style wraparound offer.

For transport, the school sits within Uttoxeter’s local network. Staffordshire’s published school transport timetable for a named route includes stops at Uttoxeter bus station and Uttoxeter rail station for journeys serving the school, which is helpful context for families travelling from surrounding villages.

• An upper school start is not for every child. Joining at 13 can be a major positive for students ready for a fresh start, but it also means a transition at a point when friendships and identity can feel more settled elsewhere. Families should ask about Year 9 induction, tutor support, and how the school handles mid year starters.

• GCSE performance is below England average. The Progress 8 figure of -0.38 indicates the school has work to do to accelerate learning for all groups. Students who need tight academic structure may need to be proactive about seeking support and using revision routines early.

• Consistency between classrooms is a current development area. The inspection highlights that staff do not always apply the behaviour policy consistently, and that some students are moved on before misconceptions are fully checked. Ask what has changed since January 2025, and how leaders are supporting staff to embed consistent routines.

Thomas Alleyne’s High School will suit families who want a comprehensive upper school with clear values, a structured pastoral model, and a sixth form that supports multiple pathways, including university, employment, and apprenticeships. Its facilities, especially the swimming pool and working farm, give extracurricular life a distinctive practical edge. The main trade off is academic performance at GCSE, which sits below England averages, so students who thrive here are often those who combine steady effort with strong attendance and a willingness to use support. For families weighing several local options, the FindMySchool Map Search can help with shortlisting by realistic travel distance and likely admissions feasibility.