Orion Spires
Bredlands Lane, Sturry, Canterbury, CT2 0HD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ORION EDUCATION
- Principal
- Mr Lee Moors
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Education for the 21st Century
- Constituency
- Herne Bay and Sandwich
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 750
- Pupils on roll
- 620
- URN
- 135305
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01227710392
About this school
Orion Spires is a secondary academy in Canterbury. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 620 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 125 | 139 | 134 |
| Attainment 8 score | 33.7 | 35.0 | 36.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.93 -1.18 to -0.67 | -1.12 -1.37 to -0.88 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 17% | 24.5% | 21.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 38% | 38.8% | 47% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 16% | 15.1% | 10.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
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 Orion Spires has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 33.7 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 36.1 | 37.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 15.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 690 |
| 2023/24 | 726 |
| 2024/25 | 667 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Orion Spires compares
Orion Spires ranked 82nd of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 29% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 36.1 | 8.7% | 41.2% | 620 | — |
| Barton Manor School | — | 6.9% | 44.3% | 596 | 3.4 miles |
| The Archbishop's School | 35.2 | 15.4% | 55.3% | 770 | 3.5 miles |
| Barton Court Grammar School | 66.4 | 4.6% | 11.4% | 995 | 3.5 miles |
| Herne Bay High School | 36.8 | 9.7% | 33.3% | 1,507 | 3.7 miles |
| Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School | 67.7 | 6.5% | 8% | 1,258 | 4.0 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)
- 41.23%
- English as an additional language
- 11.2%
- Overall absence
- 8.65%
- Persistent absence
- 29.26%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Barton Manor School3.4 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
The Archbishop's School3.5 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Barton Court Grammar School3.5 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Herne Bay High School3.7 miles
Secondary · Herne Bay
-
Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School4.0 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
Other schools in Canterbury
Orion Spires ranks 6th of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Canterbury.
- Barton Court Grammar School Secondary
- Barton Manor School Secondary
- Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School Secondary
- Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys Secondary
- St Anselm's Catholic School, Canterbury Secondary
- The Archbishop's School Secondary
- The Canterbury Academy Secondary
- Adisham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ash Cartwright and Kelsey Church of England Primary School Primary
- Aylesham Primary School Primary
- Barham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Blean Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Orion Spires teach?
- Orion Spires teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Canterbury.
- Who is the principal of Orion Spires?
- The principal of Orion Spires is Mr Lee Moors, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Orion Spires last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Orion Spires, 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 Orion Spires?
- Orion Spires has 620 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Orion Spires full?
- Orion Spires has capacity for 750 pupils and 620 on roll (83%), 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 Orion Spires a faith school?
- No. Orion Spires has no designated religious character.
- Is Orion Spires a selective school?
- No. Orion Spires is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Orion Spires?
- Orion Spires is part of ORION EDUCATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Orion Spires's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 33.7 in 2022/23 and 36.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Orion Spires rank locally?
- Orion Spires ranked 82nd of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 29% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Orion Spires's absence rate?
- Orion Spires's overall absence rate is 8.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Orion Spires's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Orion Spires'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.