SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Chatham, Medway

Waterfront UTC

South Side Three Road, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4FQ

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01634505800

Ofsted

Goodas at 10 January 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 10 January 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

30 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

20% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

37% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

2.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

0% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom 10% 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

-0.90confidence interval -1.23 to -0.57

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

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
E+
Average points per entry
13.8

England average 32.3

A level students
21

Pupils

Pupils on roll
381
Places
250
How full
Full — 381 pupils against 250 places
Girls / boys
91 / 290
Overall absence
12%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
34%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
37%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
31%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
74%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
50%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
54

After sixth form

Went to university
17%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
30%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
23

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
29%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
24

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 007H, 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
11%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
28%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
22%

England 17%

Households with no car
28%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
28%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
University technical college
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 14–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE HOWARD ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Fiona McLean
Local authority
Medway
Ward
St Mary's Island
Constituency
Rochester and Strood
URN
146648

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Brompton AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.1 1.1 mi
The Robert Napier SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 32.5 1.5 mi
Chatham GrammarAcademy converter Good 2023 61.8 1.6 mi
Leigh Academy Hundred of HooAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 43.2 1.7 mi
Maritime AcademyFree schools No grade 1.8 mi
Fort Pitt Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 65.9 1.9 mi
St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive SchoolVoluntary aided school No grade 40 1.9 mi
Rochester Independent CollegeOther independent school No grade 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
Newman Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school Good 2022 35.9
Risedale SchoolCommunity school No grade 29.8
Norton Canes High SchoolCommunity school Requires improvement 2024 34.8
Crofton AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 46.5
Limehurst AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 48.2
Ormiston Endeavour AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 42.8
Wykham ParkAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 34.8
Woodham AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 48.2

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.