Kingdown School
Woodcock Road, Warminster, BA12 9DR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ACORN EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Helen Carpenter
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Acorn Education Trust
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- South West Wiltshire
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,668
- Pupils on roll
- 1,347
- URN
- 137230
- Local authority
- Wiltshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01985215551
About this school
Kingdown School is a secondary academy in Warminster. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,347 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Kingdown School, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 2 November 2022, 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 | 239 | 274 | 244 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.3 | 46.4 | 42.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.10 -0.28 to +0.08 | +0.13 -0.04 to +0.30 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% | 45.3% | 29.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 67.9% | 56.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 28% | 15% | 18.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.0 | 3.8 | 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 Kingdown 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 | Wiltshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 46.3 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 46.4 | 37.1 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 42.8 | 36.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,504 |
| 2023/24 | 1,454 |
| 2024/25 | 1,403 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Kingdown School compares
Kingdown School ranked 17th of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 48% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42.8 | 9.5% | 21.7% | 1,347 | — |
| Matravers School | 47 | 6% | 23.8% | 958 | 3.9 miles |
| Frome Community College | 42.7 | 11.9% | 24.1% | 1,298 | 7.0 miles |
| The Clarendon Academy | 39.8 | 9.5% | 29.8% | 1,082 | 7.9 miles |
| The John of Gaunt School | 44.3 | 9.3% | 23.4% | 1,295 | 8.3 miles |
| St Augustine's Catholic College | 51.4 | 8.3% | 15.4% | 912 | 8.3 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)
- 21.7%
- English as an additional language
- 5.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.49%
- Persistent absence
- 23.8%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Matravers School3.9 miles
Secondary · Westbury
-
Frome Community College7.0 miles
Secondary · Frome
-
The Clarendon Academy7.9 miles
Secondary · Trowbridge
-
The John of Gaunt School8.3 miles
Secondary · Trowbridge
-
St Augustine's Catholic College8.3 miles
Secondary · Trowbridge
Other schools in Warminster
- Crockerton CofE Primary School Primary
- Heytesbury Church of England Primary School Primary
- Horningsham Primary School Primary
- Mere School Primary
- New Close Primary School Primary
- Princecroft Primary School Primary
- Sambourne Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- St George's Catholic Primary School, Warminster Primary
- St John's CofE School Primary
- The Avenue Primary School and Children's Centre Primary
- The Minster CofE Primary School Primary
- Whitesheet Church of England Primary Academy Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Kingdown School teach?
- Kingdown School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Warminster.
- Who is the headteacher of Kingdown School?
- The headteacher of Kingdown School is Mrs Helen Carpenter, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Kingdown School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Kingdown 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 many pupils are at Kingdown School?
- Kingdown School has 1,347 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Kingdown School full?
- Kingdown School has capacity for 1,668 pupils and 1,347 on roll (81%), 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 Kingdown School a faith school?
- No. Kingdown School has no designated religious character.
- Is Kingdown School a selective school?
- No. Kingdown School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Kingdown School part of an academy trust?
- Kingdown School is part of ACORN EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Kingdown School have?
- The schools register lists Kingdown School's special educational needs provision as: SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Kingdown School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46.3 in 2022/23 and 42.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Kingdown School compare with other schools in Wiltshire?
- Kingdown School ranked 17th of 26 secondary schools in Wiltshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 48% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Kingdown School's absence rate?
- Kingdown School's overall absence rate is 9.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Kingdown School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Kingdown 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.