SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Cowes, Isle of Wight

Cowes Enterprise College, An Ormiston Academy

Crossfield Avenue, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 8HB

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01983203103

Ofsted

Goodas at 8 March 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 8 March 2023.

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

42.7 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

39% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

70% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

87% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.07confidence interval -0.25 to 0.11

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
C+
Average points per entry
33.6

England average 32.3

A level students
60

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1156
Places
1585
How full
73% full — 1156 of 1585 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
540 / 616
Overall absence
11%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
32%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
23%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
6%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
18%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
95%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
90%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
36%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
196

After sixth form

Went to university
41%

England 50%

In education, work or training
85%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
82

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

25% 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
59%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
71

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 Isle of Wight 002A, 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
36%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
14%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
88%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
1%

England 17%

Households with no car
10%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
52%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
ORMISTON ACADEMIES TRUST
Headteacher
Principal: Adrian Price
Local authority
Isle of Wight
Ward
Cowes West & Gurnard
Constituency
Isle of Wight West
URN
140845

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Priory SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.3 mi
Medina CollegeAcademy converter Requires improvement 2020 35.2 3.7 mi
Carisbrooke CollegeAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 41.4 4.6 mi
Christ The King CollegeVoluntary aided school Requires improvement 2023 44.8 4.7 mi
Crofton SchoolAcademy converter No grade 45.3 6.1 mi
Lift New ForestAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 38.5 6.2 mi
Meoncross SchoolOther independent school No grade 6.3 mi
Lift RydeAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 43.8 6.4 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
St Ursula's Convent SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 55.1
Turton SchoolCommunity school Good 2024 43.7
The Blandford SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2024 47
Saint Aidan's Church of England High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 47
Carterton Community CollegeCommunity school No grade 33.8
Tudor Grange Academy WorcesterAcademy sponsor led No grade 45.9
The Polesworth SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 42.7
Bristol Free SchoolFree schools No grade 56.3

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.