Somervale Secondary School

Somervale Secondary School is a growing school within the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership Trust, serving a community with above-average proportions of pupils with SEN support and education, health and care plans. This full inspection found a school performing securely overall: safeguarding standards are met, and attendance and behaviour, leadership and governance, personal development and wellbeing, and post-16 provision are strong. Pupils are happy, attend well above national rates, behave calmly and respectfully, and benefit from a wide enrichment and leadership offer. Staff feel well supported, governance and trust support are effective, and the joint sixth form provides a broad curriculum with strong pastoral care and good outcomes. Achievement, curriculum and teaching, and inclusion are judged at the expected standard. Pupils typically achieve in line with national averages, disadvantaged pupils make stronger progress than their peers nationally, and pupils with SEND are identified and supported well. However, inspectors identified inconsistency in how well lessons address barriers to learning and in the quality of curriculum implementation across subjects. Some teaching does not always check understanding or adapt support precisely enough, so a small number of pupils do not make the progress they could.

Strengths

• Safeguarding culture is open and all legal requirements are met
• Attendance has risen notably and is above national figures
• Pupils behave calmly and respectfully, and bullying is rare and dealt with swiftly
• Leadership and governance have a precise understanding of the school and act in pupils' interests
• Trust support is highly effective, including for attendance and curriculum
• Staff feel valued, well supported and receive high-quality professional development
• Personal development is prioritised, with an extensive enrichment and leadership programme
• The house system builds a strong sense of belonging
• Post-16 provision is broad, inclusive and well supported, with strong outcomes
• Pupils with SEND are identified precisely and generally supported well
• Disadvantaged pupils make stronger progress than disadvantaged peers nationally
• Pupils are well prepared for their next stages of education, employment or training

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is not consistently high quality across all subjects
• Barriers to pupils' academic success are not always consistently and effectively addressed in lessons
• Some teaching does not check understanding or adapt support precisely enough, so some pupils make less progress than they could

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Somervale Secondary School attended 93.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 15.3% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 6.5% of pupils at Somervale Secondary School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Somervale Secondary School had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 15.8% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 24.7% of pupils at Somervale Secondary School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Somervale Secondary School received £7,610 and spent £7,634 for each of its 795 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £938,000 (£1,180 per pupil).

Across all 41 schools of Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, income was £8,730 and spending £8,608 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Radstock · Bath and North East Somerset local authority: places and applications

Somervale Secondary School is part of Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, which runs 43 schools. The nearest others:

• St John's CofE Primary School Radstock
• Midsomer Norton Primary School Radstock
• Longvernal Primary School Radstock
• Norton Hill Academy Radstock
• Norton Hill Primary School Midsomer Norton
• Westfield Primary School Radstock
• Welton Primary School Radstock
• Farrington Gurney Church of England Primary School Bristol
• Trinity Church School Bath
• Somerset Studio School Radstock

What is Somervale Secondary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Somervale Secondary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in October 2026.

When was Somervale Secondary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Somervale Secondary School was last inspected in October 2026.

How many pupils does Somervale Secondary School have?

Somervale Secondary School has 781 pupils on roll.

What age range does Somervale Secondary School cover?

Somervale Secondary School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Somervale Secondary School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.8, and 40% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Somervale Secondary School?

Somervale Secondary School is at Redfield Road, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Somerset, BA3 2JD.