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  • Newstead Wood School
    Avebury Road
    Orpington
    Kent
    BR6 9SA
  • Head: Mr Alan Blount
  • T 01689 853626
  • F 01689 853315
  • E office@newsteadwood.co.uk
  • W www.newsteadwood.co.uk
  • A mainstream state school for girls aged from 11 to 18 with a co-ed sixth form.
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Bromley
  • Pupils: 1,270; sixth formers: 450
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Open days: Virtual Open Events can be accessed via the website, as well as in person. Open days for sixth form are in October and in July for Year 5. Small tours of the school can be arranged for a more personal experience.
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
      • 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
      • Outcomes for children and learners Outstanding 1
      • Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1
      • Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1
    • 1 Full inspection 2nd February 2022
  • Previous Ofsted grade: Outstanding on 8th May 2014
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

An aspirational culture and high academic expectations, but without undue pressure. ‘It’s lovely to be around students who just want to learn,’ a teacher told us. Curriculum deemed by school to be ‘more ambitious than the national curriculum’, with one of the highest progress scores in the country. The sixth form centre has had a revamp and looks great, with its wallpaper of inspirational people, as well as more common rooms, a study and café with views across the playing fields. Music is on the up after a hiatus. Around 200 pupils learn a variety of instruments and have vocal lessons with…

Read review »

What the school says...

Newstead Wood School is a hardworking, fun and caring school with a passion for learning, personal development and an outstanding record of achievement. We are exceptionally proud of our students. They are bright and happy young people who enjoy being at school, each bringing unique talents to our community. Supporting their academic studies, we offer a great many extra-curricular activities including fieldwork, exchanges, conferences, lecture programmes, masterclasses and opportunities for leadership, locally, nationally and beyond. Newstead Wood students have freedom and security to be themselves, and many opportunities to follow their interests and aspirations. We know them as individuals and support them to grow as thinking young people and active citizens, ready to take positions of responsibility and leadership on leaving school. We have high expectations and encourage students to be self-motivated so that learning arises naturally through enquiry and research, across different subjects. We know that lively minds come to us well stocked and able to think divergently. Our staff understand very able and gifted students and encourage the appreciation and acceptance of different abilities. Entrance criteria as follows: Must live within 9 mile radius of school. Entrance Exam in September in VR and non VR. ...Read more

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School associations

State grammar school

What The Good Schools Guide says

Head

Since 2018, Alan Blount, previously deputy head for four years and before that, science teacher at Oxted School and Carshalton Boys Sports College. Graduated in biology and education from Exeter, followed by a master’s at Canterbury Christ Church University. Attended a comprehensive in Croydon - ‘a local boy from down the road!’ Initially worked in hospitality, even opening a restaurant.

A snappy dresser and fun company, this is not a head to take himself too seriously. Proud but not boastful, he is also committed to social mobility, focusing on increasing pupil premium numbers (a way to go still) and championing degree apprenticeships. ‘It’s our duty to do so’. Keeps a hand in teaching, currently environmental geography while also supporting aspiring medics, vets, dentists and bioethics students.

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

This is a highly selective school where students perform to high academic standards. Information from the girls' previous schools and our own screening in year 7 identifies any specific learning needs, which can then be addressed either through in-house provision or by the use of external support and guidance. The school has a nurse and a counsellor.

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder Y
Aspergers
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders Y
CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia
Dyscalculia Y
Dysgraphia
Dyslexia Y
Dyspraxia
English as an additional language (EAL) Y
Genetic
Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory
Has SEN unit or class
HI - Hearing Impairment
Hospital School
Mental health Y
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty Y
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Natspec Specialist Colleges
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability Y
Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty Y
PD - Physical Disability Y
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health Y
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication Y
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty Y
Special facilities for Visually Impaired
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty Y
VI - Visual Impairment

Interpreting catchment maps

The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.

Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.

For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained

Further reading

If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.

Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.

Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.

*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.

The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.

Children get into the school from here:

regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year


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