St Aldhelm's Academy
Herbert Avenue, Poole, BH12 4HS
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- AUTHENTIC EDUCATION GROUP LIMITED
- Principal
- Mrs Nadine Lapskas
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Diocese
- Diocese of Salisbury
- Sponsor
- Ambitions Academies Trust
- Constituency
- Bournemouth West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 808
- URN
- 136206
- Local authority
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01202732500
About this school
St Aldhelm's Academy is a secondary academy in Poole. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 808 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Aldhelm's Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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 no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Urgent improvement
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: requires significant improvement.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 145 | 164 | 156 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.7 | 35.1 | 33.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.59 -0.83 to -0.35 | -0.58 -0.81 to -0.34 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 17% | 22.6% | 22.4% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 44% | 45.7% | 44.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 10% | 10.4% | 13.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
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 Aldhelm's 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 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.7 | 39.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.1 | 38.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 33.6 | 40 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 14.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 13% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 851 |
| 2023/24 | 844 |
| 2024/25 | 841 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Aldhelm's Academy compares
St Aldhelm's Academy ranked 21st of 22 secondary schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 33.6 | 13% | 45.8% | 808 | — |
| St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, Poole | 46.4 | 7.4% | 13.8% | 1,093 | 1.2 miles |
| Oak Academy | 32.5 | 11.2% | 46.2% | 647 | 1.5 miles |
| Magna Academy | 44.3 | 7.9% | 24.8% | 938 | 1.5 miles |
| LeAF Studio | 42.4 | 9.5% | 23.4% | 458 | 1.7 miles |
| The Bourne Academy | 44.2 | 9.5% | 37.7% | 958 | 1.7 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 45.78%
- English as an additional language
- 17.6%
- Overall absence
- 12.96%
- Persistent absence
- 34.06%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, Poole1.2 miles
Secondary · Poole
-
Oak Academy1.5 miles
Secondary · Bournemouth
-
Magna Academy1.5 miles
Secondary · Poole
-
LeAF Studio1.7 miles
Secondary · Bournemouth
-
The Bourne Academy1.7 miles
Secondary · Bournemouth
Other schools in Poole
St Aldhelm's Academy ranks 8th of the 8 ranked secondary schools in Poole.
- Lytchett Minster School Secondary
- Magna Academy Secondary
- Parkstone Grammar School Secondary
- Poole Grammar School Secondary
- Poole High School Secondary
- St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, Poole Secondary
- The Cornerstone Academy Secondary
- Ad Astra Infant School Primary
- Baden-Powell and St Peter's Church of England Junior School Primary
- Bayside Academy Primary
- Bishop Aldhelm's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Canford Heath Infant School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Aldhelm's Academy teach?
- St Aldhelm's Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Poole.
- Who is the principal of St Aldhelm's Academy?
- The principal of St Aldhelm's Academy is Mrs Nadine Lapskas, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Aldhelm's Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Aldhelm's 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 many pupils are at St Aldhelm's Academy?
- St Aldhelm's Academy has 808 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is St Aldhelm's Academy full?
- St Aldhelm's Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 808 on roll (90%), 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 Aldhelm's Academy a faith school?
- No. St Aldhelm's Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is St Aldhelm's Academy a selective school?
- No. St Aldhelm's Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is St Aldhelm's Academy part of an academy trust?
- St Aldhelm's Academy is part of AUTHENTIC EDUCATION GROUP LIMITED. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have St Aldhelm's Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 34.7 in 2022/23 and 33.6 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 Aldhelm's Academy compare with other schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?
- St Aldhelm's Academy ranked 21st of 22 secondary schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% 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 Aldhelm's Academy's absence rate?
- St Aldhelm's Academy's overall absence rate is 13% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Aldhelm's Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Aldhelm's 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 15 July 2026.