Sir Thomas Rich's School, Gloucester

Ofsted's report card from its 9 December 2025 inspection grades Sir Thomas Rich's School on 7 areas: 7 strong standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "Pupils progress significantly well through the curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Leaders' approaches to tracking and managing attendance are systematic."

Curriculum and teaching - Strong standard. "Leaders have designed a well-ordered, highly ambitious curriculum."

Inclusion - Strong standard. "Leaders have robust systems and processes to check how successfully pupils learn, attend and engage in school life."

Leadership and governance - Strong standard. "Leaders have designed and embedded improved systems and processes that enable them to have greater precision in their oversight of the school."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "The school community benefits from an impressive personal development programme."

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "The 16-19 study programme is well designed for the high aspirations of students."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain the effectiveness of their work in all areas. They should seek continued improvement, overcoming barriers and challenges, in order to drive a transformational impact for all pupils. This includes disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing".

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include drama, chess, cooking, gardening, debating, Duke of Edinburgh, book club and philosophy.

Coming up: an open evening on Thursday 28 January 2027. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Sir Thomas Rich's School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 75.2, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 51.2 in Gloucestershire and 47 across England.

96% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 54% in Gloucestershire and 47% in England.

That is down from 77.2 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.91: 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 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

Sir Thomas Rich's 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, 194 families put Sir Thomas Rich's School as their first choice and 424 named it as one of their preferences, for 150 places offered. That is 1.3 first choices for every place. 68 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Sir Thomas Rich's 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, Sir Thomas Rich's School ranks them by the criteria in its admissions policy, which can include test score and distance. Check Gloucestershire'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.

Gloucestershire has 7 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 Sir Thomas Rich's School are Barnwood Park School (1.2 miles, Attainment 8 43.4); Churchdown School (1.3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 53.3); Denmark Road High School (1.3 miles, Good, selective, Attainment 8 74.8); and Chosen Hill School (2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.1).

Sir Thomas Rich's School's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

360 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Sir Thomas Rich's School (as of April 2026): 98% would recommend the school, 97% say their child is happy there and 77% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (98%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (77%).

Of the 159 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 97% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 3% to a further education college and 2% to an apprenticeship.

Of the 248 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 63% went on to university or other higher education, 4% to apprenticeships and 23% into work. 55% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

5.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 152 pupils (12.3%) received SEN support and 11 (0.9%) 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 Gloucester Rail Station, about 1.5 miles away in a straight line.

12 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Sir Thomas Rich's (outside), 90 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Sir Thomas Rich's School stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. On income deprivation affecting children it is in the 8th decile, where the 1st is the most deprived. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Sir Thomas Rich's School issued 4 suspensions, 0.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Sir Thomas Rich's School are Longlevens Infant School (0.2 miles), Longlevens Junior School (0.4 miles), Elmbridge Primary School (0.5 miles) and Innsworth Infant School (0.8 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.