SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Sherborne, Dorset

The Gryphon School

Bristol Road, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 4EQ

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Church of England Full
School website 01935813122

Ofsted

Goodas at 21 June 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 21 June 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

46.7 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

44% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

66% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

33% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle 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 lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.06confidence interval -0.24 to 0.13

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
35.1

England average 32.3

A level students
156

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1569
Places
1495
How full
Full — 1569 pupils against 1495 places
Girls / boys
811 / 758
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
20%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
21%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
10%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
8%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
86%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
53%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
236

After sixth form

Went to university
42%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
191

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

33% 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
68%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
155

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 Dorset 004B, 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
23%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
54%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
29%

England 17%

Households with no car
21%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
42%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
SHERBORNE AREA SCHOOLS' TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Jim Gower
Local authority
Dorset
Ward
Sherborne East
Constituency
West Dorset
URN
138471

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Sherborne SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.8 mi
Sherborne Preparatory SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.8 mi
Sherborne School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Leweston SchoolOther independent school No grade 3.4 mi
Buckler's Mead SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 44.5 4.7 mi
Westfield AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 44.5 5.9 mi
Hazlegrove Preparatory SchoolOther independent school No grade 6.2 mi
Preston School AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 45.9 6.2 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
Millom SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 44.9
Oakwood SchoolCommunity school No grade 43
Dene Magna and Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 52.6
Ridgewood SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.5
Bishop's Hatfield Girls' SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 51.9
The Earls High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 48.2
Fulbrook SchoolAcademy converter No grade 42.9
Warlingham SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 44.4

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.