Secondary
Bedford Free School
Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AD
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 536 of 500 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 13.7
- Local authority
- Bedford
- Trust
- ADVANTAGE SCHOOLS
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 38.6
- All staff (FTE)
- 51.3
- Pupils per adult
- 10.3
- Pupils
- 529
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected April 2025
Standards maintained
Still graded as at
Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudesOutstanding
- Leadership and governanceOutstanding
- Personal developmentOutstanding
- Quality of educationOutstanding
SafeguardingMet
An ungraded inspection, which checks whether a school remains at its previous grade rather than re-grading it. Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)GCSE results
37%
7 points below the Bedford average (44% across 13 schools)
46.5
1.3 above the Bedford average (45.2 across 13 schools)
2nd of 18 by our score, among the secondary schools in Bedford we can score - see them all. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 46.5 |
| EBacc average point score | 4.51 |
| Entered the EBacc | 89% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 37% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 56% |
| 22/23 | 48% |
| 23/24 | 54% |
| 24/25 | 37% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | +0.89 |
| 22/23 | +0.99 |
| 23/24 | +1.11 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 54.6 |
| 22/23 | 51.0 |
| 23/24 | 52.7 |
| 24/25 | 46.5 |
Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AD
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Bedford admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Principal
- Tom Wood
- Address
- Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AD
- Telephone
- 01234332299