Across Hampshire, nearly 20 thousand children will soon be leaving primary school behind, for the exciting next step in their education.
The end of the current school years is now mere weeks away if it hasn’t ended already, with the summer holidays starting around July 23 for much of the country. After the six-week break, pupils will return to class in early September for the new 2025/26 school year.
Amongst them will be thousands of new Year 7s starting at a brand new secondary school. This is a daunting transition at the best of times, but young learners will also be staring down important qualifications and exams like their GCSEs in the coming years - and how they do can open doors in the future.
The secondary school they attend is an important part of this, which is why we’re revisiting the best performing state-funded secondary schools across Hampshire; including the Portsmouth, Southampton and Hampshire County council areas, based on our own personal ‘gold standard’. The main figure this draws on is each school’s Progress 8 score for the most recently-available exam season (currently 2023/24) - an official metric which shows how quickly pupils are progressing compared to peers from similar starting points, from primary school to their GCSEs. This data has now been finalised, so it is worth noting that results and placings may differ slightly from earlier reports based on interim results.
On top of that, we’ve also made sure each school on the list had a positive rating in its latest Ofsted inspections. These inspections are going through some major changes right now, but we’ve restricted our list to those with a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall grade under the previous system, or positive ratings in all categories under the current one. This means their quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding practices all met or exceeded Government standards.
Here are the 17 Hampshire schools that came out on top, with ‘above average’ performance scores or better:
1. Saint George Catholic College
At the top of the list is Saint George, a local authority-maintained Catholic secondary school in Southampton. It was most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a very high Progress 8 score of 0.82, putting it in the ‘well above average’ band – the highest available. | Google
2. Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School
Next up is Bishop Challoner, a local authority-maintained Catholic secondary school in Basingstoke. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.78. | Google
3. Thornden School
Thornden is a secondary academy in Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh. It was most recently rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.74. | Google
4. St Anne's Catholic School
St Anne’s is a Catholic girls’ secondary academy and sixth form in Southampton, most recently rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score of 0.72. | Google