St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School

St Peter’s Catholic Comprehensive School is performing well, achieving a 'Good' rating across all inspected areas. The school prides itself on its strong Catholic ethos and focuses on building a tight-knit community where pupils feel safe, happy, and well-supported. The quality of education is deemed good, with a well-planned curriculum across various phases, particularly in the early years and secondary education, where pupils are well-prepared for future steps. However, there are some inconsistencies, especially in the humanities subjects in the primary phase. The school is taking steps to improve communication for parents of pupils with SEND and is addressing the need for stronger curriculum coherence across key stages.

Strengths

• Strong relationships foster a tight community.
• Effective pastoral care with a low incidence of bullying.
• Engaging curriculum that supports strong outcomes in primary and secondary phases.
• Extensive extra-curricular opportunities enhancing student development.
• High expectations leading to purpose and enthusiasm in the sixth form.
• Effective early reading support for younger pupils and struggling readers.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent curriculum planning in humanities in the primary phase.
• Lack of precise evaluation in some areas leading to imprecise actions.

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 St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School attended 92.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.1% 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, 4.6% of pupils at St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 4 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 St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School had 19.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.6% 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, 15.3% of pupils at St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.4% 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 St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School received £6,619 and spent £6,906 for each of its 1,944 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £227,000 (-£117 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 Bournemouth · Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole local authority: places and applications

What is St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School is Good, from an inspection in November 2023.

When was St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School was last inspected in November 2023.

How many pupils does St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School have?

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School has 1,967 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School cover?

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School for pupils aged 4 to 18.

What are St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 49.2, and 55% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

What are St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School?

St Peter's Catholic Comprehensive School is at St Catherine's Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH6 4AH.