Admiral Lord Nelson School
Dundas Lane, Portsmouth, PO3 5XT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE SALTERNS ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Christopher Doherty
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Salterns Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Portsmouth North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,250
- Pupils on roll
- 1,245
- URN
- 140697
- Local authority
- Portsmouth
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02392364536
About this school
Admiral Lord Nelson School is a secondary academy in Portsmouth. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,245 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 29 June 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 | 212 | 215 | 241 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.4 | 41.3 | 40.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.14 -0.33 to +0.05 | -0.35 -0.54 to -0.16 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 41% | 36.3% | 34% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 62% | 65.6% | 60.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 72% | 71.2% | 76.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
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 Admiral Lord Nelson 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 | Portsmouth average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 43.4 | 35.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 41.3 | 35.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.4 | 33.8 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,173 |
| 2023/24 | 1,212 |
| 2024/25 | 1,244 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Admiral Lord Nelson School compares
Admiral Lord Nelson School ranked 5th of 10 secondary schools in Portsmouth 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 15% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.4 | 8.3% | 27.4% | 1,245 | — |
| UTC Portsmouth | 48.3 | 8.6% | 20.6% | 491 | 1.2 miles |
| Trafalgar School | 43.5 | 8.2% | 38.7% | 1,031 | 1.2 miles |
| Miltoncross Academy | 36.3 | 11.8% | 42.6% | 983 | 1.3 miles |
| The Portsmouth Academy | 33.5 | 12% | 55.8% | 1,203 | 1.4 miles |
| Springfield School | 39.8 | 9.7% | 28.4% | 1,133 | 1.7 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)
- 27.41%
- English as an additional language
- 9.5%
- Overall absence
- 8.34%
- Persistent absence
- 20.54%
Location
Nearby schools
-
UTC Portsmouth1.2 miles
Secondary · Portsmouth
-
Trafalgar School1.2 miles
Secondary · Portsmouth
-
Miltoncross Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Portsmouth
-
The Portsmouth Academy1.4 miles
Secondary · Portsmouth
-
Springfield School1.7 miles
Secondary · Portsmouth
Other schools in Portsmouth
Admiral Lord Nelson School ranks 4th of the 8 ranked secondary schools in Portsmouth.
- Castle View Academy Secondary
- Miltoncross Academy Secondary
- Springfield School Secondary
- St Edmund's Catholic School Secondary
- The Portsmouth Academy Secondary
- Trafalgar School Secondary
- UTC Portsmouth Secondary
- Ark Ayrton Primary Academy Primary
- Ark Dickens Primary Academy Primary
- Arundel Court Primary Academy and Nursery Primary
- Beacon View Primary Academy Primary
- Copnor Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Admiral Lord Nelson School teach?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Portsmouth.
- Who is the headteacher of Admiral Lord Nelson School?
- The headteacher of Admiral Lord Nelson School is Mr Christopher Doherty, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Admiral Lord Nelson School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Admiral Lord Nelson 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 Admiral Lord Nelson School?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School has 1,245 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Admiral Lord Nelson School full?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School has capacity for 1,250 pupils and 1,245 on roll (100%), 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 Admiral Lord Nelson School a faith school?
- No. Admiral Lord Nelson School has no designated religious character.
- Is Admiral Lord Nelson School a selective school?
- No. Admiral Lord Nelson School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Admiral Lord Nelson School?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School is part of THE SALTERNS ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Admiral Lord Nelson School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.4 in 2022/23 and 40.4 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Admiral Lord Nelson School rank locally?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School ranked 5th of 10 secondary schools in Portsmouth 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 15% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Admiral Lord Nelson School's absence rate?
- Admiral Lord Nelson School's overall absence rate is 8.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Admiral Lord Nelson School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Admiral Lord Nelson 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 6 July 2026.