The Canterbury Academy
Knight Avenue, Canterbury, CT2 8QA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mr Jon Watson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- HI - Hearing Impairment, SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Canterbury
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,300
- Pupils on roll
- 1,984
- URN
- 136302
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01227463971
About this school
The Canterbury Academy is a secondary academy in Canterbury. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,984 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected The Canterbury Academy, and its latest judgement is set out 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 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
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 214 | 199 | 232 |
| Attainment 8 score | 38.7 | 38.0 | 39.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.55 -0.74 to -0.35 | -0.67 -0.87 to -0.47 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 31% | 30.2% | 33.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 53% | 52.8% | 54.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 10% | 11.6% | 11.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 3.2 | 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 The Canterbury 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 | Kent average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38.7 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 38 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39 | 37.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,844 |
| 2023/24 | 1,905 |
| 2024/25 | 1,984 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Canterbury Academy compares
The Canterbury Academy ranked 68th of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39 | 10.9% | 34% | 1,984 | — |
| The Archbishop's School | 35.2 | 15.4% | 55.3% | 770 | 1.2 miles |
| Barton Court Grammar School | 66.4 | 4.6% | 11.4% | 995 | 1.2 miles |
| Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys | 66.8 | 6% | 7.9% | 1,226 | 1.5 miles |
| Barton Manor School | — | 6.9% | 44.3% | 596 | 1.6 miles |
| Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School | 67.7 | 6.5% | 8% | 1,258 | 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
-
Graded inspection report6 January 2026
- 21 February 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 33.97%
- English as an additional language
- 8.4%
- Overall absence
- 10.91%
- Persistent absence
- 29.55%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Archbishop's School1.2 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Barton Court Grammar School1.2 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys1.5 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Barton Manor School1.6 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
-
Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School1.7 miles
Secondary · Canterbury
Other schools in Canterbury
The Canterbury Academy ranks 5th of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Canterbury.
- Barton Court Grammar School Secondary
- Barton Manor School Secondary
- Orion Spires 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
- 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 ages does The Canterbury Academy teach?
- The Canterbury Academy teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Canterbury.
- Who is the principal of The Canterbury Academy?
- The principal of The Canterbury Academy is Mr Jon Watson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has The Canterbury Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Canterbury 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 The Canterbury Academy?
- The Canterbury Academy has 1,984 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is The Canterbury Academy full?
- The Canterbury Academy has capacity for 1,300 pupils and 1,984 on roll (153%), 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 The Canterbury Academy a faith school?
- No. The Canterbury Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Canterbury Academy a selective school?
- No. The Canterbury Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is The Canterbury Academy part of an academy trust?
- The Canterbury Academy is part of THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Canterbury Academy have?
- The schools register lists The Canterbury Academy's special educational needs provision as: HI - Hearing Impairment; SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Canterbury Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 38.7 in 2022/23 and 39 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Canterbury Academy compare with other schools in Kent?
- The Canterbury Academy ranked 68th of 100 secondary schools in Kent for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Canterbury Academy's absence rate?
- The Canterbury Academy's overall absence rate is 10.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Canterbury Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Canterbury 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.