SF School Facts UK

Girls selective secondary school in Plymouth

Plymouth High School for Girls

St Lawrence Road, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 6HT

Ofsted Good · 2024 Selective Sixth form Girls
School website 03333602230

Ofsted

Goodas at 18 April 2024

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 18 April 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 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

65.5 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

90% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

97% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

53% 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

0.24confidence interval -0.03 to 0.50

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
B-
Average points per entry
35.3

England average 32.3

A level students
109

Pupils

Pupils on roll
782
Places
804
How full
Nearly full — 782 of 804 places taken
Girls / boys
752 / 30
Overall absence
6%

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
11%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
0%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
0%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
96%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
67%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
115

After sixth form

Went to university
54%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
10%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
114

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

35% 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
81%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
79

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 Plymouth 023D, 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
32%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
10%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
14%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
4%

England 17%

Households with no car
45%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
49%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Girls
Admissions
Selective (entrance test)
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE THINKING SCHOOLS ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Simon Underdown
Local authority
Plymouth
Ward
Drake
Constituency
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
URN
148369

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Plymouth CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.4 mi
Lipson Co-operative AcademyAcademy converter No grade 43.5 0.8 mi
Stoke Damerel Community CollegeAcademy converter No grade 35.9 1 mi
Scott Medical and Healthcare CollegeStudio schools No grade 43.5 1 mi
Millbay AcademyFree schools Good 2024 36.9 1 mi
Devonport High School for GirlsAcademy converter No grade 73.8 1.2 mi
Devonport High School for BoysAcademy converter Good 2023 69.3 1.2 mi
Eggbuckland Community CollegeAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 42.3 1.6 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
JCoSSVoluntary aided school Good 2022 60.9
Torquay Girls' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 68.6
Maidstone Grammar SchoolFoundation school No grade 68.4
St Bede's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 55
Wilmington Grammar School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2022 66.7
Loreto Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 73.7
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, HorncastleAcademy converter Good 2024 66.2
Wycombe High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 73.9

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.