Robert Blake School

Foundation school·Secondary school Bridgwater, Somerset·TA6 6AW
Composite score
53.6
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#2,078
National rank
#213
In South West
#16
In Somerset
Top 65%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
42.9
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
38%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
60%
% EBacc grade 5+
9%
EBacc average points score
3.79

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
177 first choices, 195 places
First choices per place
0.91
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
247
any preference, for 195 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.01
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9620221.0520230.9720240.9220250.912026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Robert Blake School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–16
Pupils on roll
1,042
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
34.4%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
19.1%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
16.5%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.9%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
10.5%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
30.4%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.0
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£8,505
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
87%
163 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
79%
Apprenticeship
4%
Employment
3%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

About Robert Blake School

Robert Blake School is a secondary school in Bridgwater, Somerset, classified by the DfE as a foundation school. Around 1,042 pupils aged 11 to 16 attend the school. The school holds a 'Requires improvement' judgement from Ofsted. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 42.9, below the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 4.3 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

38% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 60% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Robert Blake School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 177 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 87% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 10.5%. There are about 16.0 pupils per teacher. If you are considering Robert Blake School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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