SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Bristol, South Gloucestershire

Downend School

Westerleigh Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 6XA

Sixth form
School website 01454862300

Ofsted

Standards maintained at the last ungraded inspection, on 23 October 2024.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

51 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

54% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

76% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.6 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

35% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter 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 lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.10confidence interval -0.09 to 0.28

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
31.8

England average 32.3

A level students
97

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1415
Places
1425
How full
Nearly full — 1415 of 1425 places taken
Girls / boys
670 / 745
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
21%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
11%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
9%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
96%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
87%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
43%
No sustained destination
2%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
220

After sixth form

Went to university
51%

England 50%

In education, work or training
92%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
10%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
93

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

5% 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
51%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
61

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 South Gloucestershire 022B, 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
37%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
16%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
81%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
7%

England 17%

Households with no car
16%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
36%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
PATHWAY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Rachael Corns
Local authority
South Gloucestershire
Ward
Frenchay & Downend
Constituency
Filton and Bradley Stoke
URN
139345

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Mangotsfield SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 41.3 1 mi
Bristol Metropolitan AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 46.9 2.1 mi
King's Oak AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 42 2.2 mi
Bristol Brunel AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 43.6 2.3 mi
Winterbourne AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 52 2.3 mi
Digitech Studio SchoolStudio schools No grade 31.2 2.5 mi
John Cabot AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 52.1 2.6 mi
Collegiate SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.8 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
Ashmole AcademyAcademy converter No grade 59.9
Wellington SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 57.3
Sponne SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52
The Burgate School and Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 46.6
Bosworth AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 48.6
Langtree SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 58
Thomas Alleyne's High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 45.1
Barlby High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 42.8

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.