Northampton School for Girls, Northampton

Ofsted's report card from its 10 March 2026 inspection grades Northampton School for Girls on 7 areas: 6 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 - Strong standard. "This is a school where pupils achieve highly across the broad and ambitious curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Pupils' high attendance is a consistent strength."

Curriculum and teaching - Strong standard. "Leaders have designed an ambitious, well‑balanced curriculum that is coherently sequenced and enables pupils to recall prior learning and apply it confidently in new contexts."

Inclusion - Strong standard. "Leaders create a highly inclusive culture of belonging and warmth, where staff identify pupils' needs quickly and provide the right support."

Leadership and governance - Strong standard. "Leaders and trustees are highly knowledgeable about their roles and hold the school firmly and effectively to account."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "Leaders provide an ambitious and well‑structured programme for personal development that equips pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive beyond school."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "The school welcomes boys and girls into the sixth form."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should continue to embed improvements in the sixth form so that students consistently achieve well"; "Leaders should continue to ensure that the school's curriculum approach is deeply embedded across all areas so that exceptionally high standards are achieved and sustained over time, with practice remaining coherent, ambitious and securely implemented"; "Leaders should continue to embed a whole-school approach that cultivates a deep understanding of faiths and cultures, ensuring this is consistently modelled, taught and sustained to uphold exceptionally high standards of inclusion".

In its own words: "Thank you for your interest in Northampton School for Girls. We are a single-sex community comprehensive for girls aged 11-16. We also offer a mixed Sixth Form provision, in which boys are also admitted and actively encouraged to do so."

From the headteacher's welcome: "I would like to warmly welcome you to Northampton School for Girls. We are an ambitious and thriving school, committed to providing a broad, modern, enriching and inspiring education to ensure that all of our students have the confidence, motivation and ambition to succeed within and beyond their time at school."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, netball, hockey, athletics, basketball, badminton, swimming, cross-country, yoga and dance.

Coming up: an admissions event on Saturday 7 November 2026, an open evening on Saturday 7 November 2026 and an open evening on Thursday 21 January 2027. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Northampton School for Girls averaged an Attainment 8 score of 59.2, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.3 in West Northamptonshire and 47 across England.

67% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 46% in West Northamptonshire and 47% in England.

That is up from 54.9 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.49: pupils made 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 49.6, against 60.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 11.3 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 25 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, History and Statistics.

For September 2026 entry, 262 families put Northampton School for Girls as their first choice and 645 named it as one of their preferences, for 262 places offered. That is one first choice for every place. 51 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Northampton School for Girls are St Thomas Becket Catholic School (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 41.5); Kingsthorpe College (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.5); Malcolm Arnold Academy (1.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 44.4); and Weston Favell Academy (1.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 44.9).

Northampton School for Girls's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

242 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Northampton School for Girls (as of April 2026): 89% would recommend the school, 84% say their child is happy there and 59% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (89%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (59%).

Of the 280 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 95% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 31% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 0% into work.

Of the 183 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 69% went on to university or other higher education, 7% to apprenticeships and 15% into work. 17% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

16.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 172 pupils (10.3%) received SEN support and 31 (1.9%) 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 Northampton Rail Station, about 2.4 miles away in a straight line.

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is School for Girls (outside), 60 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Northampton School for Girls stands in is among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. On income deprivation affecting children it is in the 5th decile, where the 1st is the most deprived. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 334 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in West Northamptonshire (90), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Northampton School for Girls issued 66 suspensions, 3.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Northampton School for Girls are Parklands Primary School (0.2 miles), Kingsley Primary School (0.6 miles), Eastfield Academy (0.7 miles) and Green Oaks Primary Academy (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.