Whitstone

Academy converter·Secondary school Shepton Mallet, Somerset·BA4 5PF
Composite score
50.6
Compare Whitstone with another school
#2,451
National rank
#255
In South West
#26
In Somerset
Top 77%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
40.5
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
35%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
66%
% EBacc grade 5+
6%
EBacc average points score
3.61

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

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

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
95 first choices, 95 places
First choices per place
1.00
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
125
any preference, for 95 places
Applications from another council area
2%
First preferences per place, last five years▶ 0.00
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9720221.0220230.9520241.0020251.002026

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

Every child who put Whitstone 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
578
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
24.6%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
15.4%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
18.3%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
3.3%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
11.4%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
29.8%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
15.2
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,590
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
92%
98 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
72%
Apprenticeship
13%
Employment
6%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

About Whitstone

Whitstone is a secondary school in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. Around 578 pupils aged 11 to 16 attend the school. The school holds a 'Good' judgement from Ofsted. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 40.5, below the national average of 46. That is down 3.1 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.

35% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 66% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Whitstone was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 95 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 92% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 11.4%. There are about 15.2 pupils per teacher. When you visit, you might ask how the school stretches its higher-attaining pupils and supports those who need to catch up. 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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