SF School Facts UK

Boys selective secondary school in Rochester, Medway

Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School

Maidstone Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 3EL

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Selective Sixth form Boys Full
School website 01634844008

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 21 March 2023

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 21 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

69.5 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

94% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

97% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

6.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

99% 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

0.90confidence interval 0.70 to 1.09

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
42.3

England average 32.3

A level students
217

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1555
Places
1280
How full
Full — 1555 pupils against 1280 places
Girls / boys
108 / 1447
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
5%

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
14%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
7%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
97%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
97%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
86%
No sustained destination
2%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
203

After sixth form

Went to university
65%

England 50%

In education, work or training
86%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
205

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

44% 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
74%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
198

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 Medway 024C, 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
22%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
26%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
68%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
18%

England 17%

Households with no car
14%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
55%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Selective (entrance test)
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
LEIGH ACADEMIES TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Eliot Hodges
Local authority
Medway
Ward
Rochester West & Borstal
Constituency
Rochester and Strood
URN
136662

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The Rochester Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 68.4 0.1 mi
The Thomas Aveling SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 41.3 0.5 mi
Holcombe Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 62.4 0.9 mi
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 40 1 mi
Fort Pitt Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 65.9 1 mi
Rochester Independent CollegeOther independent school No grade 1 mi
King's School, RochesterOther independent school No grade 1.3 mi
The Victory AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 35.5 1.5 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
Rushcliffe Spencer AcademyAcademy converter No grade 58.1
Ashmole AcademyAcademy converter No grade 59.9
Wellington SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 57.3
Sharnbrook AcademyAcademy converter No grade 51.6
Sponne SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52
South Hunsley School and Sixth Form CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 52.5
The Burgate School and Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 46.6
Bosworth AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 48.6

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.