Stantonbury School is in special measures, and the DfE presumes it will move to a new trust. Tove Learning Trust's reply was due 22 September. No decision yet.
Stantonbury School could be taken away from the trust that runs it. The Department for Education issued a termination warning notice to Tove Learning Trust on 1 September, after Ofsted judged the Milton Keynes secondary to require special measures.
The notice sets a clear default. Schools in special measures are presumed to move to a different academy trust, unless the current trust can show “exceptional circumstances”. The trust had until 22 September to make its case. No decision has been published since.
The warning notice is signed by Dame Kate Dethridge, the DfE’s regional director for South East England. It is copied to Ofsted, the trust’s chief executive and Milton Keynes City Council.
What Ofsted found
Inspectors visited on 3 March 2026. The report was published on 17 July. It is one of the new report cards, which grade seven areas on a five-point scale rather than giving one overall word.
Stantonbury’s grades were:
- Expected standard: inclusion, personal development and wellbeing, and the sixth form
- Needs attention: curriculum and teaching
- Urgent improvement: achievement, attendance and behaviour, and leadership and governance
Safeguarding standards were met.
Inspectors said GCSE results had been “significantly below the national average across all subjects” for several years, “and there are no signs of sustainable improvement”. They found “a significant minority who persistently breach expectations and disturb the learning of others”, and said a high proportion of school time is lost to suspensions.
On leadership, the report says leaders have been “slow to improve poor attendance, behaviour and achievement”. It says governors do not check leaders’ assurances thoroughly enough.
There were positives. The sixth form was described as well designed and taught effectively. Pupils told inspectors they feel safe, and the report says staff at the start of their careers are well supported.
Ofsted did add one practical restriction. The chief inspector “strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers” until a monitoring inspection looks at it again.
The numbers behind the judgement
The figures below are the ones Ofsted printed with the report. They cover the years before the March inspection.
| Measure | Stantonbury | National average |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5+ in English and maths GCSE, 2024/25 | 26.4% | 45.4% |
| Grade 5+ in English and maths GCSE, 2023/24 | 35.5% | 45.9% |
| Attainment 8, 2024/25 | 32.8 | 46.0 |
| A-level average point score, 2024/25 | 21.84 | 34.99 |
| Overall absence, 2024/25 (two terms) | 15.9% | 8.1% |
| Persistently absent pupils, 2024/25 (two terms) | 41.9% | 21.9% |
Persistent absence means missing at least one session in ten. At Stantonbury it has been above 41% in each of the last three years recorded, against a national figure between 21.9% and 26.5%.
The school is large. Ofsted recorded 1,486 pupils on the day of inspection, with space for 1,560. Almost 42% had been eligible for free school meals at some point in the last six years, against 28.9% nationally.
How it got here
This is a sharp fall from the school’s last inspection. In January 2024, under the old framework, Ofsted rated Stantonbury “requires improvement” overall. It graded leadership and management, personal development and the sixth form as good.
That report opened by saying pupils “recognise that they are part of a school that has improved substantially”. Two years later, leadership has moved from good to urgent improvement.
What happens next
The regional director now decides whether to end the trust’s funding agreement. The notice sets out two routes:
- The school moves to a new trust. This is the presumption for any academy in special measures.
- Tove keeps the school. This only happens if the regional director accepts there has been “an exceptional improvement or change in leadership capacity at both trust and school levels” which “already shows impact”.
The notice does not say when a decision will be made. We will report it when the DfE publishes it.
What it means for you
If your child is at Stantonbury, nothing changes day to day. The school stays open, and the notice is about which trust runs it, not whether it runs. Ofsted’s full report is public, and it is worth reading the “next steps” section: behaviour, attendance, teaching consistency and governance are the four things the school will be measured on.
If your child is in Year 6, the deadline for secondary school applications for September 2027 is 31 October 2026. Apply through the council’s Citizen Portal. Offers go out on 1 March 2027. The council recommends visiting schools before you apply. Our school term dates page has the holidays for this year and next.
If you have a concern about the school, the trust is the first port of call. Tove Learning Trust is run by chief executive Dr Jamie Clarke, according to the Ofsted report.
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