Turner Free School

Free schools·Secondary school Folkestone, Kent·CT19 4PB
Composite score
47.0
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#2,794
National rank
#414
In South East
#72
In Kent
Top 88%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
37.6
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
25%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
47%
% EBacc grade 5+
3%
EBacc average points score
3.25

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
85%
174 first choices, 168 places
First choices per place
1.04
more first choices than places
Applications naming the school
587
any preference, for 168 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.09
00.511.5
1 per place
1.3320221.0920231.0820241.1320251.042026

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

Kent does not publish how far from the school the last child offered a Year 7 place lived, so there is no cut-off distance to show for Turner Free School. Ask the school or the council how places were allocated this year.

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

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,020
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
44.7%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
7.8%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
18.9%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
5.4%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
9.9%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
28.5%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
16.8
Typical secondary: 16.7

“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
90%
121 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
79%
Apprenticeship
3%
Employment
7%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

Turner Free School at a glance

Located in Folkestone, Kent, Turner Free School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a free school. The school educates roughly 1,020 pupils aged 11 to 18. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' at its most recent inspection. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 37.6 — below the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has risen by 2.2 points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

25% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well below the national average of about 45%. 47% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Turner Free School is oversubscribed: about 9 in 10 of the families who made it their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, with 174 first choices for 168 places. After Year 11, 90% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.9%. There are about 16.8 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 45% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. 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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