Secondary
The Castle School
Wellington Road, Taunton, TA1 5AU
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 1207 of 1188 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 16.6
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Trust
- BLACKDOWN EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 72.7
- All staff (FTE)
- 103.0
- Pupils per adult
- 11.7
- Pupils
- 1,204
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected October 2023
Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudesOutstanding
- Leadership and governanceOutstanding
- Personal developmentOutstanding
- Quality of educationOutstanding
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)GCSE results
58%
14 points above the Taunton average (44% across 4 schools)
53.4
7.0 above the Taunton average (46.4 across 4 schools)
1st of 4 by our score, among the secondary schools in Taunton we can score - 5 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 53.4 |
| EBacc average point score | 4.72 |
| Entered the EBacc | 30% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 80% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 58% |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 66% |
| 22/23 | 54% |
| 23/24 | 59% |
| 24/25 | 58% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | +0.21 |
| 22/23 | +0.21 |
| 23/24 | +0.60 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 55.1 |
| 22/23 | 53.1 |
| 23/24 | 55.3 |
| 24/25 | 53.4 |
Wellington Road, Taunton, TA1 5AU
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Somerset admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Headteacher
- James Lamb
- Address
- Wellington Road, Taunton, TA1 5AU
- Telephone
- 01823274073