John Cabot Academy
Woodside Road, Kingswood, Bristol, BS15 8BD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- CABOT LEARNING FEDERATION
- Principal
- Ms Kate Willis
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Cabot Learning Federation
- Constituency
- Bristol North East
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,400
- Pupils on roll
- 1,244
- URN
- 135295
- Local authority
- South Gloucestershire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01179763000
About this school
John Cabot Academy is a secondary academy in Bristol. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,244 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Sixth form
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 168 | 151 | 160 |
| Attainment 8 score | 47.9 | 50.8 | 52.1 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.23 +0.01 to +0.45 | +0.44 +0.21 to +0.67 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 48% | 60.9% | 60% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 74% | 79.5% | 80% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 11% | 19.2% | 9.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
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 John Cabot Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | South Gloucestershire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 47.9 | 40 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 50.8 | 38.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 52.1 | 38.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,247 |
| 2023/24 | 1,277 |
| 2024/25 | 1,278 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How John Cabot Academy compares
John Cabot Academy ranked 3rd of 16 secondary schools in South Gloucestershire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 81% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 52.1 | 9.5% | 29.6% | 1,244 | — |
| Bristol Brunel Academy | 43.6 | 11.6% | 36.3% | 1,267 | 0.9 miles |
| Hanham Woods Academy | 44.1 | 9.4% | 16.9% | 825 | 1.0 miles |
| Digitech Studio School | 31.2 | 16.4% | 29.7% | 608 | 1.5 miles |
| Bristol Metropolitan Academy | 46.9 | 10.4% | 31% | 1,103 | 1.9 miles |
| The City Academy Bristol | 38.5 | 12.4% | 50.9% | 977 | 2.0 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)
- 29.6%
- English as an additional language
- 30.6%
- Overall absence
- 9.47%
- Persistent absence
- 25.85%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bristol Brunel Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Bristol
-
Hanham Woods Academy1.0 miles
Secondary · Bristol
-
Digitech Studio School1.5 miles
Secondary · Bristol
-
Bristol Metropolitan Academy1.9 miles
Secondary · Bristol
-
The City Academy Bristol2.0 miles
Secondary · Bristol
Other schools in Bristol
John Cabot Academy ranks 10th of the 44 ranked secondary schools in Bristol.
- Abbeywood Community School Secondary
- Ashton Park School Secondary
- Backwell School Secondary
- Bedminster Down School Secondary
- Blaise High School Secondary
- Brimsham Green School Secondary
- Bristol Brunel Academy Secondary
- Bristol Cathedral Choir School Secondary
- Bristol Free School Secondary
- Bristol Metropolitan Academy Secondary
- Chew Valley School Secondary
- Chipping Sodbury School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does John Cabot Academy teach?
- John Cabot Academy teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Bristol.
- Who is the principal of John Cabot Academy?
- The principal of John Cabot Academy is Ms Kate Willis, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was John Cabot Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected John Cabot Academy, 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 John Cabot Academy?
- John Cabot Academy has 1,244 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is John Cabot Academy full?
- John Cabot Academy has capacity for 1,400 pupils and 1,244 on roll (89%), 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 John Cabot Academy a faith school?
- No. John Cabot Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is John Cabot Academy a selective school?
- No. John Cabot Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs John Cabot Academy?
- John Cabot Academy is part of CABOT LEARNING FEDERATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have John Cabot Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 47.9 in 2022/23 and 52.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does John Cabot Academy rank locally?
- John Cabot Academy ranked 3rd of 16 secondary schools in South Gloucestershire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 81% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is John Cabot Academy's absence rate?
- John Cabot Academy's overall absence rate is 9.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are John Cabot Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, John Cabot Academy'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 1 July 2026.