Bishop Fox's School
Bishop Fox Drive, Taunton, TA1 3HQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- BISHOP FOX'S SCHOOL
- Headteacher
- Ms Kerry Tonkin
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Taunton and Wellington
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,200
- Pupils on roll
- 1,123
- URN
- 136851
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01823289211
About this school
Bishop Fox's School is a secondary academy in Taunton. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,123 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 30 March 2023, 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 | 194 | 195 | 219 |
| Attainment 8 score | 48.7 | 46.6 | 46.9 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.26 +0.06 to +0.47 | +0.17 -0.04 to +0.37 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 45% | 44.1% | 44.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 75% | 67.2% | 71.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 29% | 29.2% | 36.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
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 Bishop Fox's 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 | Somerset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 48.7 | 36.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 46.6 | 34 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 46.9 | 32.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,047 |
| 2023/24 | 1,081 |
| 2024/25 | 1,109 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bishop Fox's School compares
Bishop Fox's School ranked 7th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 65% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46.9 | 7.4% | 22.2% | 1,123 | — |
| The Castle School | 53.4 | 7.2% | 13% | 1,207 | 1.3 miles |
| Pyrland School | — | — | — | — | 2.2 miles |
| Monkton Wood Academy | 41.4 | 11.3% | 22.9% | 1,267 | 2.4 miles |
| Court Fields School | 42.8 | 9% | 23% | 861 | 6.5 miles |
| Haygrove School | 48.8 | 10.3% | 22.1% | 1,051 | 8.7 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 22.18%
- English as an additional language
- 21.4%
- Overall absence
- 7.39%
- Persistent absence
- 19.08%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Castle School1.3 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Pyrland School2.2 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Monkton Wood Academy2.4 miles
Secondary · Taunton
-
Court Fields School6.5 miles
Secondary · Wellington
-
Haygrove School8.7 miles
Secondary · Bridgwater
Other schools in Taunton
- Kingsmead Academy Secondary
- Monkton Wood Academy Secondary
- Pyrland School Secondary
- The Castle School Secondary
- Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School, Taunton Primary
- Bishops Hull Primary School Primary
- Bishops Lydeard Church School Primary
- Blackbrook Primary School Primary
- Cheddon Fitzpaine Church School Primary
- Churchstanton Primary School Primary
- Cotford St Luke Primary School Primary
- Creech St Michael Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Bishop Fox's School teach?
- Bishop Fox's School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Taunton.
- Who is the headteacher of Bishop Fox's School?
- The headteacher of Bishop Fox's School is Ms Kerry Tonkin, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bishop Fox's School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bishop Fox's 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 Bishop Fox's School?
- Bishop Fox's School has 1,123 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Bishop Fox's School full?
- Bishop Fox's School has capacity for 1,200 pupils and 1,123 on roll (94%), 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 Bishop Fox's School a faith school?
- No. Bishop Fox's School has no designated religious character.
- Is Bishop Fox's School a selective school?
- No. Bishop Fox's School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Bishop Fox's School?
- Bishop Fox's School is part of BISHOP FOX'S SCHOOL. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Bishop Fox's School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 48.7 in 2022/23 and 46.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bishop Fox's School rank locally?
- Bishop Fox's School ranked 7th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 65% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 22% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bishop Fox's School's absence rate?
- Bishop Fox's School's overall absence rate is 7.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bishop Fox's School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bishop Fox's 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.