Thornden School
Winchester Road, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2DW
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- HISP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST LTD
- Headteacher
- Ms Caroline Lowing
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- HISP Multi Academy Trust Ltd
- Constituency
- Eastleigh
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,400
- Pupils on roll
- 1,440
- URN
- 136715
- Local authority
- Hampshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02380269722
About this school
Thornden School is a secondary academy in Eastleigh. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,440 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. 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
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Exceptional
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- 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 | 291 | 290 | 290 |
| Attainment 8 score | 59.7 | 61.4 | 59.9 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.51 +0.34 to +0.68 | +0.74 +0.57 to +0.91 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 73% | 76.2% | 72.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 92% | 88.6% | 87.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 62% | 63.4% | 57.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.5 |
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 Thornden 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 | Hampshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 59.7 | 37.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 61.4 | 37.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 59.9 | 37.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,466 |
| 2023/24 | 1,456 |
| 2024/25 | 1,451 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Thornden School compares
Thornden School ranked 1st of 67 secondary schools in Hampshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 93% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 59.9 | 5.3% | 6.1% | 1,440 | — |
| The Toynbee School | 47.8 | 7.6% | 18.4% | 1,107 | 1.2 miles |
| Crestwood Community School | 38.1 | 10.9% | 36.8% | 1,478 | 1.2 miles |
| Saint George Catholic Voluntary Aided College Southampton | 60 | 5% | 18.9% | 1,031 | 3.4 miles |
| Wyvern College | 44.8 | 8.1% | 21.5% | 1,313 | 3.7 miles |
| Cantell School | 46.9 | 7.6% | 43.5% | 1,313 | 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report9 June 2026
- 21 June 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 6.13%
- English as an additional language
- 13.3%
- Overall absence
- 5.34%
- Persistent absence
- 11.35%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Toynbee School1.2 miles
Secondary · Eastleigh
-
Crestwood Community School1.2 miles
Secondary · Eastleigh
-
Saint George Catholic Voluntary Aided College Southampton3.4 miles
Secondary · Southampton
-
Wyvern College3.7 miles
Secondary · Eastleigh
-
Cantell School4.0 miles
Secondary · Southampton
Other schools in Eastleigh
- Crestwood Community School Secondary
- The Toynbee School Secondary
- Wyvern College Secondary
- Chandler's Ford Infant School Primary
- Cherbourg Primary School Primary
- Colden Common Primary School Primary
- Fair Oak Infant School Primary
- Fair Oak Junior School Primary
- Fryern Infant School Primary
- Fryern Junior School Primary
- Hiltingbury Infant School Primary
- Hiltingbury Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Thornden School teach?
- Thornden School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Eastleigh.
- Who is the headteacher of Thornden School?
- The headteacher of Thornden School is Ms Caroline Lowing, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Thornden School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Thornden 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 Thornden School?
- Thornden School has 1,440 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Thornden School full?
- Thornden School has capacity for 1,400 pupils and 1,440 on roll (103%), 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 Thornden School a faith school?
- No. Thornden School has no designated religious character.
- Is Thornden School a selective school?
- No. Thornden School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Thornden School?
- Thornden School is part of HISP MULTI ACADEMY TRUST LTD. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Thornden School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 59.7 in 2022/23 and 59.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Thornden School rank locally?
- Thornden School ranked 1st of 67 secondary schools in Hampshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 93% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Thornden School's absence rate?
- Thornden School's overall absence rate is 5.3% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Thornden School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Thornden 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 13 August 2026.