St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School
City Way, Rochester, ME1 2FA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mrs Dympna Lennon
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Southwark
- Constituency
- Chatham and Aylesford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,185
- Pupils on roll
- 1,084
- URN
- 118908
- Local authority
- Medway
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01634543123
About this school
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided secondary school in Rochester. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,084 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 163 | 175 | 179 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.6 | 36.7 | 40.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.54 -0.78 to -0.29 | -0.55 -0.79 to -0.30 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 30% | 28% | 32.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 50% | 52% | 50.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 8% | 8.6% | 7.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.9 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Medway average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 37.6 | 34 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 36.7 | 36 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40 | 36.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,024 |
| 2023/24 | 1,094 |
| 2024/25 | 1,105 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School compares
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School ranked 12th of 18 secondary schools in Medway for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 39% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40 | 8.1% | 35.6% | 1,084 | — |
| Fort Pitt Grammar School | 65.9 | 6.2% | 14.9% | 1,009 | 0.2 miles |
| Holcombe Grammar School | 62.4 | 5.4% | 13.3% | 1,060 | 0.8 miles |
| The Rochester Grammar School | 68.4 | 4.4% | 11.7% | 1,206 | 0.8 miles |
| The Victory Academy | 35.5 | 9.8% | 45.1% | 1,213 | 0.9 miles |
| Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School | 69.5 | 3.7% | 10.8% | 1,555 | 1.0 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 35.57%
- English as an additional language
- 21.7%
- Overall absence
- 8.14%
- Persistent absence
- 20.79%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Fort Pitt Grammar School0.2 miles
Secondary · Chatham
-
Holcombe Grammar School0.8 miles
Secondary · Chatham
-
The Rochester Grammar School0.8 miles
Secondary · Rochester
-
The Victory Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Chatham
-
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School1.0 miles
Secondary · Rochester
Other schools in Rochester
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School ranks 6th of the 6 ranked secondary schools in Rochester.
- Leigh Academy Strood Secondary
- Maritime Academy Secondary
- Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School Secondary
- The Rochester Grammar School Secondary
- The Thomas Aveling School Secondary
- All Faiths Children's Academy Primary
- Balfour Infant School Primary
- Bligh Primary School (Infants) Primary
- Bligh Primary School (Juniors) Primary
- Burham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cedar Children's Academy Primary
- Chattenden Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School teach?
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Rochester.
- Who is the headteacher of St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School?
- The headteacher of St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is Mrs Dympna Lennon, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School?
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School has 1,084 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School full?
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School has capacity for 1,185 pupils and 1,084 on roll (91%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School a faith school?
- Yes. St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is designated Roman Catholic, in the Archdiocese of Southwark.
- Is St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School a selective school?
- No. St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37.6 in 2022/23 and 40 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School rank locally?
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School ranked 12th of 18 secondary schools in Medway for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 39% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School's absence rate?
- St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School's overall absence rate is 8.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.