St Mark's CofE School

St Mark's CofE School is an inclusive, ambitious secondary school within the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership. It serves a small cohort with a high proportion of pupils with SEND and EHC plans, including two resourced provisions for ASD and MLD. Inspectors found most areas performing strongly: achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing are all strong, while attendance and behaviour is at expected standard. Safeguarding requirements are met. Pupils typically make excellent progress from their starting points, including those who arrive with gaps or start after Year 7, and they are well prepared for the next stage. The school's standout strengths are its highly ambitious curriculum, consistently effective teaching, strong SEND adaptation, excellent pastoral care and wide extra-curricular offer. Pupils behave excellently and feel safe, known and respected. Leaders, governors and the trust work together well and are reflective about improvement priorities. The main concern is attendance: some pupils, particularly some with SEND, remain persistently absent, and recent improvements are not yet fully sustained. The careers programme is ambitious but currently more developed for older pupils, so younger pupils need further opportunities to learn about work.

Strengths

• Pupils typically make excellent progress from their starting points.
• The curriculum is highly ambitious, carefully planned and sequenced.
• A broad range of academic and practical subjects is offered with trust support.
• Teaching is consistently effective across subjects.
• Staff are highly skilled at adapting resources and activities for pupils with SEND.
• Inclusion is a major strength, with SEND pupils well integrated and often thriving.
• Leaders and governors are united, reflective and focused on pupils.
• Staff feel supported with workload and wellbeing.
• Personal development and wellbeing provision is excellent.
• Pupils access a wide range of extra-curricular activities, trips and performances.
• Pupils' behaviour is excellent and lessons are rarely disrupted.
• Bullying is rare, not tolerated and dealt with swiftly.
• Safeguarding standards are met within an open culture.
• Disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils are well supported.
• The school is highly inclusive and has a genuine sense of community.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance is below national average, with persistent absence above national average.
• Some pupils with SEND remain persistently absent.
• Recent improvements in attendance are not yet sustained over time.
• The careers programme is more established for older pupils than for younger pupils.

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 Mark's CofE School attended 86.6% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 31.0% 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, 13.4% of pupils at St Mark's CofE 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 Mark's CofE School had 12.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.7% 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 St Mark's CofE School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 23.9% 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 2024–25 St Mark's CofE School received £12,076 and spent £12,408 for each of its 253 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £330,000 (£1,306 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 Bath · Bath and North East Somerset local authority: places and applications

St Mark's CofE School is part of Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership, which runs 43 schools. The nearest others:

• Hayesfield Girls School Bath
• Beechen Cliff School Bath
• St Julian's Church School Bath
• Peasedown St John Primary School Bath
• Shoscombe Church School Bath
• St Mary's CofE Primary School Bath
• Trinity Church School Bath
• Soundwell Academy Kingswood
• Writhlington School Radstock
• Hemington Primary School Radstock

What is St Mark's CofE School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mark's CofE School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was St Mark's CofE School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mark's CofE School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does St Mark's CofE School have?

St Mark's CofE School has 259 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mark's CofE School cover?

St Mark's CofE School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are St Mark's CofE School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 48.7, and 39% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is St Mark's CofE School?

St Mark's CofE School is at Bay Tree Road, Bath, Somerset, BA1 6ND.