SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Maidstone, Kent

The Lenham School

Ham Lane, Lenham, Maidstone, Kent, ME17 2LL

Sixth form
School website 01622858267

Ofsted

Standards maintained at the last ungraded inspection, on 5 February 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

37 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

16% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

43% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

27% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.32confidence interval -0.56 to -0.08

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as below 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.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
820
Places
1012
How full
81% full — 820 of 1012 places taken
Girls / boys
398 / 422
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
29%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
30%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
4%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
18%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
95%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
82%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
29%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
148

After sixth form

Went to university
25%

England 50%

In education, work or training
63%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
16

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

0% 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
43%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
14

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 Maidstone 011B, 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
33%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
15%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
78%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
7%

England 17%

Households with no car
9%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
38%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
VALLEY INVICTA ACADEMIES TRUST
Headteacher
Head of School: Robbie Ferguson
Local authority
Kent
Ward
Harrietsham, Lenham & North Downs
Constituency
Faversham and Mid Kent
URN
143954

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Sutton Valence SchoolOther independent school No grade 5.4 mi
Fulston Manor SchoolAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 35.3 6.6 mi
Highsted Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 61.1 6.6 mi
The Sittingbourne SchoolAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 34.1 6.8 mi
Borden Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2021 63.2 6.9 mi
VTC Independent SchoolOther independent school No grade 7.1 mi
Westlands SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 40.6 7.1 mi
School of Science and Technology MaidstoneFree schools Outstanding 2023 48 7.6 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
Samuel King's SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 30.2
Landau Forte Academy, AmingtonAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 40
Herne Bay High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 36.8
Minsthorpe Community CollegeAcademy converter Good 2023 41.3
Batley Girls' High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.9
Sacred Heart Catholic High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.1
St George's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No grade 55.9
Sir Jonathan North Girls' CollegeAcademy converter No grade 52.6

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.