SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Gravesend, Kent

St John's Catholic Comprehensive

Rochester Road, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 2JW

Sixth form Roman Catholic Full
School website 01474534718

Ofsted

Standards maintained at the last ungraded inspection, on 8 January 2025.

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

42.1 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

31% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

63% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.5 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

7% 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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.11confidence interval -0.09 to 0.31

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
29.4

England average 32.3

A level students
75

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1335
Places
1184
How full
Full — 1335 pupils against 1184 places
Girls / boys
680 / 655
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
18%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
29%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
32%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
11%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
89%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
63%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
179

After sixth form

Went to university
57%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
150

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

7% 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
65%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
138

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 Gravesham 003C, 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
28%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
22%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
64%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
10%

England 17%

Households with no car
18%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
32%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Voluntary aided school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Matthew Barron
Local authority
Kent
Ward
Denton
Constituency
Gravesham
URN
118933

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Gravesend Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 65.3 0.2 mi
Thamesview SchoolFoundation school Good 2024 34.3 1 mi
Saint George's Church of England SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 41.3 1.1 mi
Mayfield Grammar School, GravesendAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 64.3 1.1 mi
Northfleet Technology CollegeFoundation school Good 2022 35.7 1.8 mi
Northfleet School for GirlsFoundation school No grade 43 1.9 mi
The Gateway AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 46.1 3 mi
Cobham HallOther independent school No grade 3.1 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
Hornsea School and Language CollegeCommunity school No grade 44.5
Cardinal Allen Catholic High School, FleetwoodVoluntary aided school No grade 43.5
John Cabot AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 52.1
Greenshaw High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.7
The King Edmund SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 36.3
Dixons Kings AcademyFree schools Outstanding 2024 52.7
Bellerive FCJ Catholic CollegeAcademy converter No grade 47.3
Ark Greenwich Free SchoolFree schools Outstanding 2023 68.2

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.