Westlands School
Westlands Avenue, Sittingbourne, ME10 1PF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- SWALE ACADEMIES TRUST
- Headteacher
- Miss Christina Honess
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Swale Academies Trust
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, PD - Physical Disability
- Constituency
- Sittingbourne and Sheppey
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,604
- Pupils on roll
- 1,690
- URN
- 136286
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01795477475
About this school
Westlands School is a secondary academy in Sittingbourne. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,690 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 15 May 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 300 | 315 | 313 |
| Attainment 8 score | 44.5 | 40.1 | 40.6 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.02 -0.15 to +0.18 | -0.38 -0.54 to -0.22 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 45% | 30.2% | 35.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 63% | 58.1% | 57.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 11% | 11.1% | 10.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
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 Westlands 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 | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 44.5 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 40.1 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.6 | 37.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,784 |
| 2023/24 | 1,774 |
| 2024/25 | 1,746 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Westlands School compares
Westlands School ranked 56th of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.6 | 9% | 29.9% | 1,690 | — |
| Borden Grammar School | 63.2 | 4.1% | 12.3% | 938 | 1.1 miles |
| Highsted Grammar School | 61.1 | 6% | 12.5% | 793 | 1.3 miles |
| Fulston Manor School | 35.3 | 11.8% | 25.3% | 1,314 | 1.3 miles |
| The Sittingbourne School | 34.1 | 10.8% | 40.9% | 1,556 | 2.1 miles |
| Leigh Academy Rainham | — | 6.2% | 24.6% | 964 | 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)
- 29.86%
- English as an additional language
- 5.3%
- Overall absence
- 8.96%
- Persistent absence
- 26.8%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Borden Grammar School1.1 miles
Secondary · Sittingbourne
-
Highsted Grammar School1.3 miles
Secondary · Sittingbourne
-
Fulston Manor School1.3 miles
Secondary · Sittingbourne
-
The Sittingbourne School2.1 miles
Secondary · Sittingbourne
-
Leigh Academy Rainham4.0 miles
Secondary · Gillingham
Other schools in Sittingbourne
Westlands School ranks 3rd of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Sittingbourne.
- Borden Grammar School Secondary
- Fulston Manor School Secondary
- Highsted Grammar School Secondary
- The Sittingbourne School Secondary
- Bapchild and Tonge Church of England Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Bobbing Village School Primary
- Borden Church of England Primary School Primary
- Bredgar Church of England Primary School Primary
- Canterbury Road Primary School Primary
- Grove Park Primary School Primary
- Hartlip Endowed Church of England Primary School Primary
- Holywell Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Westlands School teach?
- Westlands School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Sittingbourne.
- Who is the headteacher of Westlands School?
- The headteacher of Westlands School is Miss Christina Honess, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Westlands School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Westlands 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 Westlands School?
- Westlands School has 1,690 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Westlands School full?
- Westlands School has capacity for 1,604 pupils and 1,690 on roll (105%), so it is at or above 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 Westlands School a faith school?
- No. Westlands School has no designated religious character.
- Is Westlands School a selective school?
- No. Westlands School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Westlands School?
- Westlands School is part of SWALE ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Westlands School have?
- The schools register lists Westlands School's special educational needs provision as: SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty; PD - Physical Disability. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Westlands School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 44.5 in 2022/23 and 40.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Westlands School rank locally?
- Westlands School ranked 56th of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 40% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Westlands School's absence rate?
- Westlands School's overall absence rate is 9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Westlands School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Westlands 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 1 July 2026.