The Harbour School
Tipner Lane, Tipner, Portsmouth, PO2 8RA
- Phase
- Academies
- School type
- Academy special converter
- Ages
- 5 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SOUTHERN EDUCATION TRUST
- Head of School
- Mrs Sian Lacey
- Sponsor
- Delta Education Trust
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- Portsmouth North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 200
- Pupils on roll
- 169
- URN
- 147720
- Local authority
- Portsmouth
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02392665664
About this school
The Harbour School is a special academy in Portsmouth. It teaches children aged 5 to 19 and has 169 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected The Harbour School, 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 no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Urgent improvement
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Urgent improvement
- Attendance and behaviour
- Urgent improvement
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Urgent improvement
- Leadership and governance
- Urgent improvement
- Safeguarding
- Met
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: special measures.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | - | - | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | - | - | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | - | - | 17% |
| Expected standard in maths | - | - | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | - | - | 17% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | 114.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | 91.0 |
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Attainment 8 score | 5.5 | 7.1 | 3.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -2.31 -2.86 to -1.75 | -2.31 -2.86 to -1.77 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 3% | 3.3% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 3% | 3.3% | 3.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
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 Harbour 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 | 5.5 | 35.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 7.1 | 35.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 3 | 33.8 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 41.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 45.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 48.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 106 |
| 2023/24 | 101 |
| 2024/25 | 123 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 81.3%
- English as an additional language
- 2.4%
- Overall absence
- 48.55%
- Persistent absence
- 91.61%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Cliffdale Primary Academy0.9 miles
Academies · Portsmouth
-
Madani Academy1.3 miles
Independent schools · Portsmouth
-
Redwood Park Academy1.8 miles
Academies · Portsmouth
-
University of Portsmouth1.9 miles
Universities · Portsmouth
-
The Wymering School2.0 miles
Free Schools · Portsmouth
Other schools in Portsmouth
- Cliffdale Primary Academy Academies
- Mary Rose Academy Academies
- Redwood Park Academy Academies
- The Wymering School Free Schools
- 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
- Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Primary
- Court Lane Infant Academy Primary
- Court Lane Junior Academy Primary
Common questions
- What ages does The Harbour School teach?
- The Harbour School teaches children aged 5 to 19. It is a special school in Portsmouth.
- Who is the head of school of The Harbour School?
- The head of school of The Harbour School is Mrs Sian Lacey, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has The Harbour School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Harbour 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 The Harbour School?
- The Harbour School has 169 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 19.
- Is The Harbour School full?
- The Harbour School has capacity for 200 pupils and 169 on roll (85%), 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 The Harbour School a faith school?
- No. The Harbour School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Harbour School part of an academy trust?
- The Harbour School is part of SOUTHERN 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 The Harbour School have?
- The schools register lists The Harbour School's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- What is The Harbour School's absence rate?
- The Harbour School's overall absence rate is 48.6% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Harbour School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Harbour 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.