SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Rochester, Medway

The Thomas Aveling School

Arethusa Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2UW

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Full
School website 01634844809

Ofsted

Goodas at 14 September 2022

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 14 September 2022.

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

41.3 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

26% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

56% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.6 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

32% 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 second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.16confidence interval -0.04 to 0.36

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
25.7

England average 32.3

A level students
90

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1201
Places
1204
How full
Nearly full — 1201 of 1204 places taken
Girls / boys
600 / 601
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
26%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
33%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
13%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
17%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
89%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
83%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
53%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
195

After sixth form

Went to university
39%

England 50%

In education, work or training
76%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
8%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
75

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

2% 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
47%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
100

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 026B, 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
25%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
26%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
58%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
30%

England 17%

Households with no car
26%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
41%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
BEYOND SCHOOLS TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Fiona Linter
Local authority
Medway
Ward
Rochester East & Warren Wood
Constituency
Chatham and Aylesford
URN
137376

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 69.5 0.5 mi
The Rochester Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 68.4 0.5 mi
Holcombe Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 62.4 0.7 mi
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 40 1.1 mi
Fort Pitt Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 65.9 1.2 mi
Walderslade SchoolAcademy converter Inadequate 2023 29.9 1.3 mi
The Victory AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 35.5 1.3 mi
Greenacre SchoolAcademy converter Inadequate 2023 29.8 1.4 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
The Vyne Community SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 43
Carlton KeighleyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.6
Buxton Community SchoolAcademy converter Good 2020 41.6
Welling SchoolAcademy converter No grade 34.7
King Edward VI Aston SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 71.2
Drayton Manor High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 56
Testwood SchoolAcademy converter No grade 42.9
Bridgemary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 33.8

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.