SF School Facts UK

Boys selective secondary school in Salisbury, Wiltshire

Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School

Exeter Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2ED

Ofsted Outstanding · 2022 Selective Sixth form Church of England Boys
School website 01722333851

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 15 November 2022

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 15 November 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

73.1 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

97% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

99% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

6.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

57% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 5% of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.55confidence interval 0.30 to 0.79

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
B+
Average points per entry
43.6

England average 32.3

A level students
196

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1193
Places
1200
How full
Nearly full — 1193 of 1200 places taken
Girls / boys
131 / 1062
Overall absence
5%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
14%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
5%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
0%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
1%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
99%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
98%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
84%
No sustained destination
0%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
155

After sixth form

Went to university
58%

England 50%

In education, work or training
84%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
192

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

60% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
85%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
164

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Wiltshire 058C, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
45%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
14%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
43%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
16%

England 17%

Households with no car
39%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
43%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Selective (entrance test)
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
BISHOP WORDSWORTH'S CHURCH OF ENGLAND GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Headteacher
Headmaster: Michael Thorne
Local authority
Wiltshire
Ward
Salisbury Harnham East
Constituency
Salisbury
URN
136500

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Godolphin SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.5 mi
Chafyn Grove SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.8 mi
Leehurst Swan SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.8 mi
Brunel CollegeOther independent school No grade 1 mi
South Wilts Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 77 1 mi
Wyvern St Edmund's AcademyAcademy converter No grade 42.2 1.4 mi
St Joseph's Catholic SchoolVoluntary aided school Requires improvement 2024 40.4 1.5 mi
Sarum AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 33.7 2.3 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Old Swinford HospitalVoluntary aided school Good 2022 59
Aylesbury Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 74.5
Bowland HighAcademy converter Good 2022 47.8
Stroud High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 76.9
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 75.6
Torquay Boys' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70.8
Colyton Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 78.8
Bournemouth School for GirlsAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 72.2

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.