Local authority · London
Kingston upon Thames has 16 secondary schools in this dataset — 12 state-funded and 4 independent. 5 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 4 have a religious character; 14 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of +0.71 (well above average) — 0.72 of a grade per subject above the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 11 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.03 to +1.02. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 1.05 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 6 of the 11 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 6.9% for the typical school here, below the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Holy Cross SchoolAcademy converter | +1.02well above average | +0.71 to +1.192023–24 | 61.4 | 1.05× | Good |
| 2 | The Tiffin Girls' SchoolAcademy converter | +0.98well above average | +0.83 to +1.282023–24 | 84.8 | 2.35× | Exceptional (achievement) |
| 3 | The Kingston AcademyFree schools | +0.97well above average | +0.94 to +1.382023–24 | 60.5 | 1.46× | Outstanding (ungraded) |
| 4 | Tolworth Girls' School and Sixth FormAcademy converter | +0.77well above average | +0.67 to +1.062023–24 | 56.8 | 0.90× | Outstanding (ungraded) |
| 5 | Richard Challoner SchoolAcademy converter | +0.73well above average | +0.62 to +1.072023–24 | 58.5 | 1.56× | Outstanding |
| 6 | Tiffin SchoolAcademy converter | +0.71well above average | +0.64 to +1.072023–24 | 79.8 | 2.46× | Good |
| 7 | Coombe Girls' SchoolAcademy converter | +0.63well above average | +0.52 to +0.892023–24 | 57.5 | 0.79× | Good |
| 8 | Coombe Boys' SchoolAcademy converter | +0.31above average | +0.12 to +0.592023–24 | 52.5 | 0.61× | Good (ungraded) |
| 9 | The Hollyfield School and Sixth Form CentreAcademy converter | +0.30above average | +0.08 to +0.492023–24 | 54.0 | 1.05× | Improved significantly (ungraded) |
| 10 | Southborough High SchoolAcademy converter | +0.05average | +0.05 to +0.532023–24 | 48.1 | 0.45× | Good |
| 11 | Chessington SchoolAcademy converter | -0.03average | -0.13 to +0.432023–24 | 43.5 | 0.73× | Good |
6 of the 10 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps The Holy Cross School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 1 school here has an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Kingston Grammar School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| Marymount International School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| South Thames Colleges Group | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
| Surbiton High School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Tennis Avenue School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Kingston upon Thames for 2026 entry was Tiffin School at 2.46 first preferences per place — 479 families named it first for 195 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Kingston upon Thames on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Kingston upon Thames you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.