Towers School and Sixth Form Centre
Faversham Road, Kennington, Ashford, TN24 9AL
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- TOWERS SCHOOL ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mr Richard Billings
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Ashford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,625
- Pupils on roll
- 1,538
- URN
- 136583
- Local authority
- Kent
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01233634171
About this school
Towers School and Sixth Form Centre is a secondary academy in Ashford. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,538 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
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
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 205 | 251 | 266 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.7 | 40.2 | 40.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.15 -0.35 to +0.04 | -0.29 -0.47 to -0.11 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28% | 35.1% | 29.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 60% | 60.6% | 54.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 70% | 61.8% | 66.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
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 Towers School and Sixth Form Centre 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 | 40.7 | 37.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 40.2 | 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 | 9.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,460 |
| 2023/24 | 1,529 |
| 2024/25 | 1,559 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Towers School and Sixth Form Centre compares
Towers School and Sixth Form Centre ranked 57th 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 9% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.6 | 9.6% | 30.2% | 1,538 | — |
| Highworth Grammar School | 70.8 | 4.8% | 8.4% | 1,553 | 1.6 miles |
| The Norton Knatchbull School | 67.3 | 4% | 10.4% | 1,348 | 1.9 miles |
| The North School | 41.1 | 9.8% | 32.9% | 1,237 | 2.1 miles |
| Wye School | 46.6 | 6.4% | 24.3% | 557 | 2.6 miles |
| Chilmington Green School | — | 4.4% | 27.7% | 449 | 4.2 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)
- 30.23%
- English as an additional language
- 15.1%
- Overall absence
- 9.55%
- Persistent absence
- 32.92%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Highworth Grammar School1.6 miles
Secondary · Ashford
-
The Norton Knatchbull School1.9 miles
Secondary · Ashford
-
The North School2.1 miles
Secondary · Ashford
-
Wye School2.6 miles
Secondary · Wye
-
Chilmington Green School4.2 miles
Secondary · Great Chart
Other schools in Ashford
Towers School and Sixth Form Centre ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Ashford.
- Highworth Grammar School Secondary
- The North School Secondary
- The Norton Knatchbull School Secondary
- Aldington Primary School Primary
- Ashford Oaks Community Primary School Primary
- Ashford, St Mary's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Beaver Green Primary School Primary
- Bethersden Primary School Primary
- Bodsham Church of England Primary School Primary
- Brabourne Church of England Primary School Primary
- Brook Community Primary School Primary
- Challock Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Towers School and Sixth Form Centre teach?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Ashford.
- Who is the principal of Towers School and Sixth Form Centre?
- The principal of Towers School and Sixth Form Centre is Mr Richard Billings, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Towers School and Sixth Form Centre last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Towers School and Sixth Form Centre, 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 Towers School and Sixth Form Centre?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre has 1,538 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Towers School and Sixth Form Centre full?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre has capacity for 1,625 pupils and 1,538 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Towers School and Sixth Form Centre a faith school?
- No. Towers School and Sixth Form Centre has no designated religious character.
- Is Towers School and Sixth Form Centre a selective school?
- No. Towers School and Sixth Form Centre is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Towers School and Sixth Form Centre?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre is part of TOWERS SCHOOL ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Towers School and Sixth Form Centre's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.7 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 Towers School and Sixth Form Centre rank locally?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre ranked 57th 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 9% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Towers School and Sixth Form Centre's absence rate?
- Towers School and Sixth Form Centre's overall absence rate is 9.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Towers School and Sixth Form Centre's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Towers School and Sixth Form Centre'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.