The Swanage School
High Street, Swanage, BH19 2PH
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- EDUCATION SWANAGE LIMITED
- Headteacher
- Ms Jennifer Maraspin
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- South Dorset
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 360
- Pupils on roll
- 349
- URN
- 139376
- Local authority
- Dorset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01929500599
About this school
The Swanage School is a secondary academy in Swanage. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 349 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 60 | 75 | 69 |
| Attainment 8 score | 45.4 | 39.5 | 36.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.02 -0.38 to +0.35 | -0.28 -0.61 to +0.04 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 42% | 26.7% | 20.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 63% | 49.3% | 37.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 8% | 5.3% | 7.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
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 The Swanage 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 | Dorset average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 45.4 | 36.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.5 | 36.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 36.9 | 35.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 335 |
| 2023/24 | 343 |
| 2024/25 | 339 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Swanage School compares
The Swanage School ranked 16th of 19 secondary schools in Dorset for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% 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 | 36.9 | 11.9% | 33% | 349 | — |
| The Cornerstone Academy | 41 | 12.2% | 40.8% | 645 | 7.3 miles |
| Poole High School | 51 | 8.8% | 20.6% | 1,891 | 7.8 miles |
| The Purbeck School | 41.9 | 7.5% | 22.5% | 1,022 | 7.8 miles |
| St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, Poole | 46.4 | 7.4% | 13.8% | 1,093 | 8.9 miles |
| Parkstone Grammar School | 68.5 | 5.1% | 6.9% | 1,241 | 9.3 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)
- 33.04%
- English as an additional language
- 10.3%
- Overall absence
- 11.91%
- Persistent absence
- 30.29%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Cornerstone Academy7.3 miles
Secondary · Poole
-
Poole High School7.8 miles
Secondary · Poole
-
The Purbeck School7.8 miles
Secondary · Wareham
-
St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, Poole8.9 miles
Secondary · Poole
-
Parkstone Grammar School9.3 miles
Secondary · Poole
Other schools in Swanage
Common questions
- What year groups does The Swanage School teach?
- The Swanage School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Swanage.
- Who is the headteacher of The Swanage School?
- The headteacher of The Swanage School is Ms Jennifer Maraspin, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Swanage School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Swanage 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 The Swanage School?
- The Swanage School has 349 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Swanage School full?
- The Swanage School has capacity for 360 pupils and 349 on roll (97%), 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 The Swanage School a faith school?
- No. The Swanage School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Swanage School a selective school?
- No. The Swanage School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Swanage School?
- The Swanage School is part of EDUCATION SWANAGE LIMITED. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Swanage School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 45.4 in 2022/23 and 36.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Swanage School rank locally?
- The Swanage School ranked 16th of 19 secondary schools in Dorset for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% 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 The Swanage School's absence rate?
- The Swanage School's overall absence rate is 11.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Swanage School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Swanage 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.