King Arthur's School
West Hill, Wincanton, BA9 9BX
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Jonty Archibald
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Glastonbury and Somerton
- Setting
- Larger rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 700
- Pupils on roll
- 450
- URN
- 147016
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0196332368
About this school
King Arthur's School is a secondary academy in Wincanton. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 450 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
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
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- 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 | 73 | 78 | 73 |
| Attainment 8 score | 36.8 | 40.3 | 40.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.59 -0.92 to -0.27 | -0.21 -0.53 to +0.10 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 26% | 32.1% | 34.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 47% | 53.8% | 56.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 18% | 19.2% | 20.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 3.4 | 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 King Arthur'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 | 36.8 | 36.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 40.3 | 34 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 40.6 | 32.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 463 |
| 2023/24 | 468 |
| 2024/25 | 448 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How King Arthur's School compares
King Arthur's School ranked 25th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset 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 12% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 40.6 | 8.9% | 26.1% | 450 | — |
| Sexey's School | 51.5 | 10.3% | 11.1% | 633 | 3.8 miles |
| Ansford Academy | 43.7 | 8.8% | 18.8% | 469 | 4.7 miles |
| Gillingham School | 42.7 | 9.5% | 20.3% | 1,684 | 6.9 miles |
| The Gryphon School | 46.7 | 7.9% | 20.5% | 1,569 | 7.8 miles |
| Sturminster Newton High School | 46.1 | 10.9% | 29.6% | 605 | 9.9 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)
- 26.12%
- English as an additional language
- 5.4%
- Overall absence
- 8.93%
- Persistent absence
- 28.09%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Sexey's School3.8 miles
Secondary · Bruton
-
Ansford Academy4.7 miles
Secondary · Castle Cary
-
Gillingham School6.9 miles
Secondary · Gillingham
-
The Gryphon School7.8 miles
Secondary · Sherborne
-
Sturminster Newton High School9.9 miles
Secondary · Sturminster Newton
Other schools in Wincanton
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Primary Primary
- Wincanton Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does King Arthur's School teach?
- King Arthur's School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Wincanton.
- Who is the headteacher of King Arthur's School?
- The headteacher of King Arthur's School is Mr Jonty Archibald, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was King Arthur's School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected King Arthur'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 King Arthur's School?
- King Arthur's School has 450 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is King Arthur's School full?
- King Arthur's School has capacity for 700 pupils and 450 on roll (64%), 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 King Arthur's School a faith school?
- No. King Arthur's School has no designated religious character.
- Is King Arthur's School a selective school?
- No. King Arthur's School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs King Arthur's School?
- King Arthur's School is part of SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have King Arthur's School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 36.8 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 King Arthur's School rank locally?
- King Arthur's School ranked 25th of 28 secondary schools in Somerset 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 12% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is King Arthur's School's absence rate?
- King Arthur's School's overall absence rate is 8.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are King Arthur's School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, King Arthur'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 10 July 2026.