De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire, Loughborough

Ofsted's report card from its 6 May 2026 inspection grades De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire on 7 areas: 3 strong standard and 4 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Leaders have created a culture of very high expectations for attendance."

Inclusion - Strong standard. "There is an inclusive culture in the school."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "The school's ethos is at the core of the personal development and wellbeing programme."

Achievement - Expected standard. "Pupils develop secure knowledge over time."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "The curriculum is well designed."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "School and trust leaders have a clear ambition to provide a high-quality education for all pupils."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum for sixth-form students."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that the checks used to identify and address gaps in pupils' learning are used consistently across the curriculum so that all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve well"; "Leaders should ensure that teaching strategies are skilfully adapted so that any barriers to achievement are swiftly and effectively addressed".

In 2026, pupils at De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire averaged an Attainment 8 score of 57.5, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.8 in Leicestershire and 47 across England.

66% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 47% in Leicestershire and 47% in England.

That is up from 55.1 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.58: pupils made well above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 47, against 59.7 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 12.7 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 27 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 262 families put De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire as their first choice and 603 named it as one of their preferences, for 211 places offered. That is 1.2 first choices for every place. 64 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire are Charnwood College (0.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 48.6); Limehurst Academy (1.3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 46.4); Woodbrook Vale School (1.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 50.4); and Iveshead School (1.9 miles, Attainment 8 44.2).

De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire is one of 23 schools run by St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Multi Academy Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 54.5 in 2024/25.

Of the 218 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 92% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 31% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 96 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 55% went on to university or other higher education, 4% to apprenticeships and 24% into work. 33% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

14.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 153 pupils (11.1%) received SEN support and 28 (2%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire had 63 teachers in 2026, one for every 21 pupils: fewer teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

The nearest tram or metro stop is Loughborough Central (Great Central Railway), about 1.7 miles away in a straight line.

15 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Rupert Brooke Road (opposite), 160 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. On income deprivation affecting children it is in the 7th decile, where the 1st is the most deprived. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 199 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Leicestershire (58), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire issued 151 suspensions, 11.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The primary schools closest to De Lisle College Loughborough Leicestershire are Thorpe Acre Infant School (under 0.1 miles), Thorpe Acre Junior School (under 0.1 miles), Booth Wood Academy (0.4 miles) and Robert Bakewell Primary School (0.8 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.