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State secondary schools in Somerset

29 schools · South West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Somerset has 29 state secondaries, 10 of them with sixth forms. 92.1% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 16% to 57.7% passing English and maths, a spread of 42 points, with a middle school at 39.1%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 1 rated Outstanding, 16 Good, 4 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate. 6 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

29 schools in Somerset. Tap one, or see the full list.
16% 58% passed English & maths

Somerset against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

40%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

5.1% below England

England 45%

43.5

Attainment 8 average score

2.6 below England

England 46.1

24%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

2.8% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Somerset

92.1%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

97.7%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0.4%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

10%

Appeals upheld10 of 99 heard

These are figures for Somerset 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 Somerset's 29 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 16% to 58%. That is a spread of 42 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.

Somerset 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 languagecombined sciencehistoryartphysicschemistrybiologyfrenchcomputer sciencespanishphotographyfood technologydesign technologybusiness studiesreligious studies
  1. 1 Haygrove School Bridgwater · 110 entries 76%
  2. 2 The Castle School Taunton · 77 entries 74%
  3. 3 Court Fields School Wellington · 42 entries 74%
  4. 4 Sexey's School Bruton · 45 entries 73%
  5. 5 Ansford Academy Castle Cary · 29 entries 69%
  6. 6 Bishop Fox's School Taunton · 80 entries 68%
  7. 7 The Kings of Wessex Academy Cheddar · 177 entries 67%
  8. 8 The Blue School Wells · 142 entries 67%
  9. 9 Wadham School Crewkerne · 49 entries 65%
  10. 10 Holyrood Academy Chard · 97 entries 65%
  11. 11 Chilton Trinity School Bridgwater · 77 entries 58%
  12. 12 Frome Community College Frome · 123 entries 56%
  13. 13 Robert Blake School Bridgwater · 119 entries 55%
  14. 14 Preston School Academy Yeovil · 77 entries 55%
  15. 15 West Somerset College Minehead · 116 entries 53%
  16. 16 Westfield Academy Yeovil · 117 entries 53%
  17. 17 St Dunstan's School Glastonbury · 60 entries 52%
  18. 18 Monkton Wood Academy Taunton · 117 entries 51%
  19. 19 Kingsmead Academy Taunton · 88 entries 51%
  20. 20 King Arthur's School Wincanton · 48 entries 50%
  21. 21 Huish Episcopi Academy LANGPORT · 85 entries 48%
  22. 22 The King Alfred School an Academy Highbridge · 141 entries 48%
  23. 23 Whitstone Shepton Mallet · 71 entries 46%
  24. 24 Crispin School Academy Street · 104 entries 42%
  25. 25 Bridgwater College Academy Bridgwater · 67 entries 42%
  26. 26 Stanchester Academy Stoke-sub-Hamdon · 74 entries 41%
  27. 27 Buckler's Mead School Yeovil · 69 entries 38%
  28. 28 Pyrland School Taunton · 80 entries 30%
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Every school in Somerset

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

3 of 28 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

  • Ansford Academy Castle Cary · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    45%
    Attainment 8
    43.7
    Absence
    24%
  • Bishop Fox's School Taunton · Good.
    Eng & maths
    45%
    Attainment 8
    46.9
    Absence
    17%
  • Bridgwater College Academy Bridgwater · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    16%
    Attainment 8
    31.9
    Absence
    25%
  • Brymore Academy Bridgwater · Good. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    35%
    Attainment 8
    44
    Absence
    22%
  • Buckler's Mead School Yeovil · Good.
    Eng & maths
    42%
    Attainment 8
    44.5
    Absence
    17%
  • Chilton Trinity School Bridgwater · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    36%
    Attainment 8
    42
    Absence
    23%
  • Court Fields School Wellington · Good.
    Eng & maths
    43%
    Attainment 8
    42.8
    Absence
    19%
  • Crispin School Academy Street · Good.
    Eng & maths
    39%
    Attainment 8
    42.7
    Absence
    18%
  • Frome Community College Frome · Good.
    Eng & maths
    41%
    Attainment 8
    42.7
    Absence
    29%
  • Haygrove School Bridgwater · Good.
    Eng & maths
    48%
    Attainment 8
    48.8
    Absence
    28%
  • Holyrood Academy Chard · Good.
    Eng & maths
    30%
    Attainment 8
    42.4
    Absence
    26%
  • Huish Episcopi Academy LANGPORT · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    57%
    Attainment 8
    50.6
    Absence
    21%
  • King Arthur's School Wincanton · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    34%
    Attainment 8
    40.6
    Absence
    28%
  • Kingsmead Academy Taunton · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    39%
    Attainment 8
    43.8
    Absence
    29%
  • Monkton Wood Academy Taunton · Inadequate.
    Eng & maths
    35%
    Attainment 8
    41.4
    Absence
    28%
  • Preston School Academy Yeovil · Good.
    Eng & maths
    40%
    Attainment 8
    45.9
    Absence
    18%
  • Pyrland School Taunton · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    26%
    Attainment 8
    35.8
    Absence
    —
  • Robert Blake School Bridgwater · Requires improvement.
    Eng & maths
    38%
    Attainment 8
    42.9
    Absence
    27%
  • Sexey's School Bruton · Good.
    Eng & maths
    53%
    Attainment 8
    51.5
    Absence
    24%
  • St Dunstan's School Glastonbury · Good.
    Eng & maths
    51%
    Attainment 8
    45.7
    Absence
    24%
  • Stanchester Academy Stoke-sub-Hamdon · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    48%
    Attainment 8
    43.7
    Absence
    20%
  • The Blue School Wells · Good.
    Eng & maths
    51%
    Attainment 8
    49.7
    Absence
    27%
  • The Castle School Taunton · Outstanding. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    58%
    Attainment 8
    53.4
    Absence
    16%
  • The King Alfred School an Academy Highbridge · Good.
    Eng & maths
    33%
    Attainment 8
    40.5
    Absence
    29%
  • The Kings of Wessex Academy Cheddar · Good.
    Eng & maths
    54%
    Attainment 8
    48.7
    Absence
    24%
  • Wadham School Crewkerne · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    38%
    Attainment 8
    42.3
    Absence
    26%
  • West Somerset College Minehead · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
    Eng & maths
    33%
    Attainment 8
    41.2
    Absence
    37%
  • Westfield Academy Yeovil · Good. · no spare places
    Eng & maths
    38%
    Attainment 8
    44.5
    Absence
    19%
  • Whitstone Shepton Mallet · Good.
    Eng & maths
    35%
    Attainment 8
    40.5
    Absence
    23%

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 Somerset

8 of Somerset's 10 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 Somerset

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.

Bath and North East Somerset 14 schools · 49% passed English & mathsDevon 42 schools · 46% passed English & mathsDorset 19 schools · 41% passed English & mathsNorth Somerset 11 schools · 46% passed English & mathsWiltshire 28 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.