Newstead Wood School, Orpington

Ofsted's report card from its 28 April 2026 inspection grades Newstead Wood School on 7 areas: 3 exceptional, 3 strong standard and 1 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Exceptional. "Pupils achieve exceptionally well."

Attendance and behaviour - Exceptional. "Attendance is a clear strength of the school."

Inclusion - Exceptional. "This is a highly inclusive school."

Curriculum and teaching - Strong standard. "Teaching across the school is very effective, and teachers have consistently secure subject knowledge."

Leadership and governance - Strong standard. "Leadership across the school is ambitious and reflective."

Post-16 provision - Strong standard. "Leaders set a clear and ambitious vision for the sixth form."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Pupils are very well supported by pastoral teams and enjoy coming to school, particularly pupils who have specific needs or barriers."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "School leaders and those responsible for governance should strengthen their oversight of personal, social, health and economic education, including relationships and sex education and health education, to ensure that it is implemented with the same consistency and high expectations of pupils' work as the rest of the curriculum".

Coming up: an open evening on Thursday 26 November 2026. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Newstead Wood School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 79.5, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 52.8 in Bromley and 47 across England.

98% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 56% in Bromley and 47% in England.

That is down from 82.8 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 1.05: 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.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 23 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Chemistry and Biology.

Newstead Wood School is a grammar school: places go to children who reach the required standard in its entrance test, and only then are the oversubscription criteria applied.

For September 2026 entry, 322 families put Newstead Wood School as their first choice and 636 named it as one of their preferences, for 190 places offered. That is 1.7 first choices for every place. 149 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Newstead Wood School admits pupils through an entrance test, usually called the 11-plus. Children have to be registered for it in advance, normally in the spring or summer of Year 5; the test itself is usually sat in September of Year 6, and results come out in October, before the 31 October deadline for naming secondary schools.

Passing the test makes a child eligible rather than guaranteeing a place: when more children pass than there are places, Newstead Wood School ranks them by the criteria in its admissions policy, which can include test score and distance. Check Bromley's admissions pages and the school's own policy for this year's registration deadline - a child who is not registered in time cannot sit the test.

Bromley has 2 state grammar schools in all, so a child who passes may have several selective schools to choose between.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Newstead Wood School are Darrick Wood School (0.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 51.3); St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School (1.3 miles, Outstanding, selective, Attainment 8 85); Bishop Justus CofE School (1.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.8); and Ravens Wood School (1.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 50.8).

Newstead Wood School's 2026 results were higher than 3 of these 4 schools.

Newstead Wood School is one of 98 schools run by United Learning Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 49 in 2024/25.

Of the 159 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 98% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 1% to a further education college and 1% into work.

Of the 222 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 76% went on to university or other higher education, 2% to apprenticeships and 6% into work. 62% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

5.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 26.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Asian (43%), White British (13%) and Black (13%).

In 2026, 128 pupils (9.5%) received SEN support and 4 (0.3%) 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 a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia.

The nearest railway station is Orpington Station, about 0.8 miles away in a straight line.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Newstead Wood School stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Newstead Wood School issued 1 suspension, 0.1 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Newstead Wood School are Tubbenden Primary School (0.3 miles), Darrick Wood Infant & Nursery School (0.4 miles), Darrick Wood Junior School (0.4 miles) and Farnborough Primary School (0.6 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.