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State secondary schools in Portsmouth

11 schools · South East · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Portsmouth has 11 state secondaries, 1 of them with sixth forms. 83.4% of families got their first choice last year, about the national picture. Results run from 17.4% to 70.9% passing English and maths, a spread of 54 points, with a middle school at 35.9%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 2 rated Outstanding, 4 Good, 1 Inadequate. 4 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

11 schools in Portsmouth. Tap one, or see the full list.
17% 71% passed English & maths

Portsmouth against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

35%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

10.2% below England

England 45%

39.5

Attainment 8 average score

6.6 below England

England 46.1

23%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

1.8% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Portsmouth

83.4%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

95%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0.1%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

10%

Appeals upheld17 of 166 heard

These are figures for Portsmouth as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Portsmouth's 11 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 17% to 71%. That is a spread of 54 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Portsmouth schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathsgeographyenglish literatureenglish languagehistorycombined sciencephotographyspanishartstatisticsphysicsfrenchfood technologycomputer sciencechemistrybiologyreligious studiesdesign technology
  1. 1 Ark Charter Academy Southsea · 28 entries 96%
  2. 2 St Edmund's Catholic School Portsmouth · 43 entries 84%
  3. 3 Trafalgar School Portsmouth · 45 entries 76%
  4. 4 Priory School Southsea · 65 entries 68%
  5. 5 Miltoncross Academy Portsmouth · 20 entries 65%
  6. 6 Springfield School Portsmouth · 33 entries 64%
  7. 7 Mayfield School Portsmouth · 22 entries 50%
  8. 8 Admiral Lord Nelson School Portsmouth · 34 entries 44%
  9. 9 The Portsmouth Academy Portsmouth · 46 entries 20%
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Every school in Portsmouth

Portsmouth is a separate local authority inside Hampshire, so schools in the surrounding county are not in this list. See Hampshire.

1 of 11 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

  • Admiral Lord Nelson School Portsmouth · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    34%
    Attainment 8
    40.4
    Absence
    21%
  • Ark Charter Academy Southsea · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    36%
    Attainment 8
    38.9
    Absence
    29%
  • Castle View Academy Portsmouth · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    29%
    Attainment 8
    35.6
    Absence
    40%
  • Mayfield School Portsmouth · Inadequate.
    Eng & maths
    17%
    Attainment 8
    31.3
    Absence
    30%
  • Miltoncross Academy Portsmouth · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    27%
    Attainment 8
    36.3
    Absence
    29%
  • Priory School Southsea · Good.
    Eng & maths
    44%
    Attainment 8
    44.7
    Absence
    20%
  • Springfield School Portsmouth · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    38%
    Attainment 8
    39.8
    Absence
    23%
  • St Edmund's Catholic School Portsmouth · Outstanding.
    Eng & maths
    71%
    Attainment 8
    58.9
    Absence
    8%
  • The Portsmouth Academy Portsmouth · Good.
    Eng & maths
    21%
    Attainment 8
    33.5
    Absence
    32%
  • Trafalgar School Portsmouth · Good.
    Eng & maths
    38%
    Attainment 8
    43.5
    Absence
    21%
  • UTC Portsmouth Portsmouth · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    44%
    Attainment 8
    48.3
    Absence
    18%

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Portsmouth

1 of Portsmouth's 1 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Portsmouth

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Hampshire 69 schools · 45% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.