The Blue School

Academy · ages 11–18 · Church of England · with a sixth form

Above average on 2 of the four headline measures — 4th of 29 for average grade in Somerset.

Wells · Somerset · one of 29 state secondaries

Summary

The Blue School sits 4th of 29 state secondaries in Somerset for average GCSE grade. 70.7% of its pupils passed both English and maths, against 61.3% across Somerset. 50.6% reached the stronger grade 5 in both. Subject by subject it is furthest clear of Somerset in combined science and geography, with nothing measurably behind. Ofsted: Good in October 2017, confirmed in May 2023.

It is an academy of 1,362 pupils, taking ages 11 to 18 and running its own sixth form. 18.6% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals, and 16.3% are on SEN support with a further 5% holding an education, health and care plan. 32.2% were entered for the full EBacc, about the same as Somerset, and 18.8% took the separate sciences rather than combined. 26.7% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, worse than the 24.3% across Somerset, and 84.6% of its leavers went on to further education.

Subject comparisons are measured at grade 4 or above against Somerset, and count as ahead or behind only where the gap is wider than the year-to-year swing that entry group would produce.

The school·Somerset

Inspection

Good

Last inspected May 2023

The grade itself is 8 years old.

May 2023 Ungraded inspection School remains Good
October 2017 Full inspection Good

An ungraded inspection checks whether the existing grade still holds rather than replacing it.

That grade was given under the framework Ofsted used before September 2019.

Read the Ofsted report

Attendance

27% of pupils missed a tenth of school or more, against 24% across Somerset and 21% nationally. The comparators are the median secondary school, not an average.

GCSE · Key stage 4·2024/25

Attainment

71%

Passed English & maths grade 4+, an old grade C

above average

Somerset 61% · England 65%

51%

Strong pass in both grade 5+, a strong pass

above average

Somerset 40% · England 45%

49.7

Average grade across 8 Attainment 8, out of 90

in line with average

Somerset 43.5 · England 46.1

32%

Entered for the EBacc the academic core of subjects

in line with average

Somerset 31% · England 41%

After Year 11

85% stayed in education, 8% started an apprenticeship (2022/23 leavers)

GCSE results by subject

2024/25 · share reaching grade 4 or above · a standard pass, the old grade C

this school Somerset England at grade 4

Subject Share at grade 4 or above Since 2021/22

Every bar is on the same 0–100% scale, so subjects can be read against each other as well as against the county and England. A dash means the figure does not exist rather than being zero. The county and England lines cover state-funded schools only, the same schools you can browse here, because independent schools sit outside the Department for Education's subject release and outside this site.

Compare these subjects against another school, side by side.

English Language is the subject most of this year group sat. English Language tutors on Tutorperch.

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Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

Sixth form

2024/25 · 100 A level students

B-

Average A level resultper entry, DfE grade

above average

Somerset C- · England C+

B-

Best three A levelsthe grade a typical offer asks for

23%

AAB or betterat least two in facilitating subjects

above average

Somerset 13.4% · England 12.8%

96%

Stayed the coursefinished what they started

in line with average

Somerset 93.7% · England 95.7%

Applied general qualifications: average result Distinction-, 34 students, 81.8% stayed the course. These are BTECs and similar, graded pass to distinction* rather than A* to E, so the two cannot be compared directly.

A level results by subject

2024/25 · share reaching B or above

this school Somerset England at grade B

Subject Share at B or above Progress

After sixth form

Of the 2 students who finished, 50% went on to higher education, 7.5% to an apprenticeship, and 28.3% into work. 88.3% were in a sustained destination of some kind six months later.

Destinations are for 2022/23 leavers, the most recent DfE has published. The results above are 2024/25.

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.
The EBacc: A combination of subjects rather than a qualification in its own right: English, Maths, the Sciences, a Language, and History or Geography. The figure shows the share of pupils entered for all the EBacc subject areas, so it gives an indication of how widely a school enters pupils for this particular combination of subjects.
Progress 8: A measure of how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and the end of GCSE, rather than simply what grades they achieve. It takes pupils' prior attainment into account, making it useful for comparing schools with different intakes. Progress 8 is not published for 2024/25 because the pupils concerned did not have Key Stage 2 tests that can be used as the normal starting point.
Percentage points: The gap between two percentages. A subject going from 30% to 36% has risen six percentage points, though it has risen by a fifth. We write "pp" to keep the two apart.
Why some subjects say nothing: A year group is small. Where a gap is no bigger than the swing a different intake would produce, we say the subjects are level rather than dressing chance as a finding. Two kinds of subject carry no share at all: a vocational award has no 9-to-1 grade to report, and some qualifications are not published on the 9-to-1 scale for a given year group, most often community languages sat outside the school's own timetable.
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.
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.

School details

Kennion Road
Wells
Somerset
BA5 2NR

01749 678799 theblueschoolwells.co.uk

Headteacher: Mr Mark Woodlock
Trust: The Blue School
Pupils: 1,362 of 1,640 places
Spare places: 17%
Free school meals: 19%
SEND: 16% on SEN support, 5% with an EHC plan
Separate sciences: 19% of the year
Progress 8: Not published · last +0.19 in 2023/24

Other schools in Somerset

28 schools. Distances are straight-line from this school.

School report by Tutorperch