The Cooper School

Academy converter·Secondary school Bicester, Oxfordshire·OX26 4RS
Composite score
52.1
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#2,270
National rank
#337
In South East
#30
In Oxfordshire
Top 72%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
41.7
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
40%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
60%
% EBacc grade 5+
8%
EBacc average points score
3.59

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision
Good

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
120 first choices, 184 places
First choices per place
0.65
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
271
any preference, for 184 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.32
00.511.5
1 per place
0.8820220.8920230.9220240.9720250.652026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put The Cooper School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,228
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
13.8%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
16.0%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
16.9%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.6%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
8.4%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
22.4%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.8
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,031
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
90%
217 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
79%
Apprenticeship
8%
Employment
4%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

The Cooper School at a glance

Located in Bicester, Oxfordshire, The Cooper School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 1,228 pupils aged 11 to 18. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 41.7 — below the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has fallen by 2.9 points compared with the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

40% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 60% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made The Cooper School their first choice was offered one of its 184 Year 7 places. After Year 11, 90% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 8.4%. There are about 16.8 pupils per teacher. The Cooper School does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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