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State secondary schools in Wiltshire

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

Wiltshire has 28 state secondaries, 21 of them with sixth forms, 2 grammar schools among them. 93.9% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 18.2% to 98.7% passing English and maths, a spread of 81 points, with a middle school at 43.1%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 2 rated Outstanding, 19 Good, 2 Requires improvement. 5 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

28 schools in Wiltshire. Tap one, or see the full list.
18% 99% passed English & maths

Wiltshire against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

45%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

in line with England

England 45%

46.2

Attainment 8 average score

in line with England

England 46.1

22%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

in line with England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Wiltshire

93.9%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

98.3%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

25%

Appeals upheld17 of 69 heard

These are figures for Wiltshire 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 Wiltshire's 28 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 18% to 99%. That is a spread of 81 percentage points, wider than most councils.

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.

Wiltshire 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.

mathsenglish literatureenglish languagehistorygeographycombined sciencephysicschemistrybiologyartreligious studiesfrenchbusiness studiescomputer sciencespanishphysical educationfood technologydesign technology
  1. 1 South Wilts Grammar School Salisbury · 73 entries 100%
  2. 2 Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School Salisbury · 93 entries 99%
  3. 3 St Laurence School Bradford-on-Avon · 107 entries 82%
  4. 4 Lavington School Devizes · 71 entries 82%
  5. 5 Malmesbury School Malmesbury · 89 entries 80%
  6. 6 St John's Marlborough Marlborough · 165 entries 79%
  7. 7 St Augustine's Catholic College Trowbridge · 56 entries 79%
  8. 8 Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Swindon · 201 entries 76%
  9. 9 Abbeyfield School Chippenham · 83 entries 73%
  10. 10 The Corsham School Corsham · 88 entries 73%
  11. 11 The John of Gaunt School Trowbridge · 137 entries 69%
  12. 12 Hardenhuish School Chippenham · 172 entries 69%
  13. 13 Devizes School Devizes · 112 entries 68%
  14. 14 Sheldon School Chippenham · 103 entries 67%
  15. 15 The Trafalgar School at Downton Salisbury · 86 entries 66%
  16. 16 The Stonehenge School Amesbury · 41 entries 61%
  17. 17 Matravers School Westbury · 87 entries 61%
  18. 18 Bradon Forest School Swindon · 57 entries 60%
  19. 19 Wyvern St Edmund's Academy Salisbury · 96 entries 59%
  20. 20 The Clarendon Academy Trowbridge · 105 entries 58%
  21. 21 St Joseph's Catholic School Salisbury · 52 entries 56%
  22. 22 Kingdown School Warminster · 147 entries 55%
  23. 23 Avon Valley Academy Salisbury · 42 entries 55%
  24. 24 Sarum Academy Salisbury · 44 entries 55%
  25. 25 Melksham Oak Community School Melksham · 92 entries 53%
  26. 26 Kingsbury Green Academy Calne · 84 entries 48%
  27. 27 The Wellington Academy Ludgershall · 96 entries 43%
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Every school in Wiltshire

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

3 of 27 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

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 Wiltshire

20 of Wiltshire's 21 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 Wiltshire

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 & mathsDorset 19 schools · 41% passed English & mathsGloucestershire 41 schools · 53% passed English & mathsHampshire 69 schools · 45% passed English & mathsOxfordshire 42 schools · 48% passed English & mathsSomerset 29 schools · 40% passed English & mathsSouth Gloucestershire 16 schools · 43% passed English & mathsSwindon 14 schools · 43% passed English & mathsWest Berkshire 10 schools · 48% 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.