Sir Harry Smith Community College
Eastrea Road, Whittlesey, Peterborough, PE7 1XB
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ASPIRE LEARNING TRUST (WHITTLESEY)
- Principal
- Miss Dawn White
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Aspire Learning Trust (Whittlesey)
- Constituency
- North East Cambridgeshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,210
- Pupils on roll
- 1,084
- URN
- 138053
- Local authority
- Cambridgeshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01733703991
About this school
Sir Harry Smith Community College is a secondary academy in Peterborough. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,084 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Sir Harry Smith Community College, 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 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 175 | 176 | 200 |
| Attainment 8 score | 44.3 | 38.5 | 40.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.31 -0.52 to -0.10 | -0.66 -0.87 to -0.45 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% | 31.3% | 33.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 49.4% | 57% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 20% | 19.3% | 30% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
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 Sir Harry Smith Community College has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Cambridgeshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 44.3 | 38.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 38.5 | 38 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.6 | 36.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,111 |
| 2023/24 | 1,094 |
| 2024/25 | 1,104 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sir Harry Smith Community College compares
Sir Harry Smith Community College ranked 29th of 34 secondary schools in Cambridgeshire 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 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.6 | 11.6% | 25.5% | 1,084 | — |
| Stanground Academy | 46.7 | 6.7% | 30.9% | 1,654 | 4.6 miles |
| St John Fisher Catholic High School | — | — | — | — | 4.6 miles |
| City of Peterborough Academy | 39.3 | 11.9% | 49.5% | 853 | 4.7 miles |
| Greater Peterborough UTC | 38.2 | 9.1% | 37.3% | 464 | 5.2 miles |
| Manor Drive Secondary Academy | — | 9.6% | 41.9% | 594 | 5.8 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 25.5%
- English as an additional language
- 4.3%
- Overall absence
- 11.64%
- Persistent absence
- 29.83%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Stanground Academy4.6 miles
Secondary · Peterborough
-
St John Fisher Catholic High School4.6 miles
Secondary · Peterborough
-
City of Peterborough Academy4.7 miles
Secondary · Peterborough
-
Greater Peterborough UTC5.2 miles
Secondary · Peterborough
-
Manor Drive Secondary Academy5.8 miles
Secondary · Peterborough
Other schools in Peterborough
Sir Harry Smith Community College ranks 10th of the 15 ranked secondary schools in Peterborough.
- Arthur Mellows Village College Secondary
- City of Peterborough Academy Secondary
- Greater Peterborough UTC Secondary
- Hampton Gardens Secondary School Secondary
- Jack Hunt Academy Secondary
- Ken Stimpson Academy Secondary
- Manor Drive Secondary Academy Secondary
- Nene Park Academy Secondary
- Ormiston Bushfield Academy Secondary
- Queen Katharine Academy Secondary
- St John Fisher Catholic High School Secondary
- Stanground Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does Sir Harry Smith Community College teach?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Peterborough.
- Who is the principal of Sir Harry Smith Community College?
- The principal of Sir Harry Smith Community College is Miss Dawn White, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Sir Harry Smith Community College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sir Harry Smith Community College, 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 Sir Harry Smith Community College?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College has 1,084 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Sir Harry Smith Community College full?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College has capacity for 1,210 pupils and 1,084 on roll (90%), 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 Sir Harry Smith Community College a faith school?
- No. Sir Harry Smith Community College has no designated religious character.
- Is Sir Harry Smith Community College a selective school?
- No. Sir Harry Smith Community College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Sir Harry Smith Community College part of an academy trust?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College is part of ASPIRE LEARNING TRUST (WHITTLESEY). Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Sir Harry Smith Community College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 44.3 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 Sir Harry Smith Community College compare with other schools in Cambridgeshire?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College ranked 29th of 34 secondary schools in Cambridgeshire 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 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sir Harry Smith Community College's absence rate?
- Sir Harry Smith Community College's overall absence rate is 11.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sir Harry Smith Community College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sir Harry Smith Community College'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.