King Arthur's School

King Arthur's School is a secondary comprehensive academy within the Sherborne Area Schools’ Trust, led by a headteacher who joined in September 2024. Inspectors found the school has been on a significant improvement journey since its previous inspection. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management are good, while the quality of education still requires improvement; safeguarding is effective. Pupils feel safe, have a strong sense of belonging, respond well to high behaviour expectations, and benefit from a supportive environment. Parents are positive about the improvements leaders have made.

Strengths

• Pupils feel safe and have a strong sense of belonging
• Pupils show positive attitudes to learning and behave well
• The school provides a high-quality enrichment programme, including trips and the Aspire programme
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with appropriate options guidance in Year 9
• Pupils with SEND are well supported and included in clubs and trips
• Pupils receive strong careers advice and support for their next steps
• Attendance and punctuality have improved
• Staff enjoy working at the school and value professional development and wellbeing support
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement
• The delivery of the curriculum and use of assessment are too variable across classes and subjects
• Some teaching does not build well on pupils’ prior knowledge or address misconceptions effectively
• Pupils at the early stages of reading do not receive appropriate support to catch up
• The wider reading curriculum is in its infancy and not implemented consistently well
• Pupils’ attainment remains below national expectations in some subjects
• The proportion of pupils studying the English Baccalaureate remains below the government’s ambition

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 King Arthur's School attended 91.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 28.1% 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, 14.7% of pupils at King Arthur's School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 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 King Arthur's School had 13.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 2.0% 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, 15.8% of pupils at King Arthur's School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.9% 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 2021–22 King Arthur's School received £6,896 and spent £6,309 for each of its 403 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £132,000 (£327 per pupil).

Across all 15 schools of Sherborne Area Schools' Trust, income was £6,237 and spending £6,314 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 Somerset · Somerset local authority: places and applications

King Arthur's School is part of Sherborne Area Schools' Trust, which runs 17 schools. The nearest others:

• Charlton Horethorne Church of England Primary School Sherborne
• St Mary the Virgin Church of England Primary School Gillingham
• The Gryphon School Sherborne
• Sherborne Primary School Sherborne
• Motcombe CofE Primary School Shaftesbury
• Sherborne Abbey Church of England Primary School Sherborne
• Sturminster Newton High School Sturminster Newton
• Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School Shaftesbury
• Shaftesbury School Shaftesbury
• Thornford CofE Primary School Sherborne

What is King Arthur's School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for King Arthur's School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was King Arthur's School last inspected by Ofsted?

King Arthur's School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does King Arthur's School have?

King Arthur's School has 450 pupils on roll.

What age range does King Arthur's School cover?

King Arthur's School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are King Arthur's School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 38.8, and 36% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is King Arthur's School?

King Arthur's School is at West Hill, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 9BX.