Local authority · South West
Plymouth has 22 secondary schools in this dataset — 20 state-funded and 2 independent. 3 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 4 have a religious character; 19 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.12 (average) — 0.11 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 18 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -1.19 to +0.69. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.96 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 4 of the 17 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 11.9% for the typical school here, above 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 | Devonport High School for GirlsAcademy converter | +0.69well above average | +0.52 to +1.032023–24 | 75.5 | 1.58× | Good |
| 2 | Devonport High School for BoysAcademy converter | +0.27above average | +0.09 to +0.512023–24 | 69.5 | 1.12× | Good |
| 3 | Plymouth High School for GirlsAcademy converter | +0.23above average | -0.03 to +0.502023–24 | 66.8 | 0.87× | Good (ungraded) |
| 4 | Lipson Co-operative AcademyAcademy converter | +0.17average | +0.18 to +0.622023–24 | 45.7 | 0.94× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 5 | Coombe Dean SchoolAcademy converter | +0.04average | -0.07 to +0.392023–24 | 47.6 | 1.54× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 6 | Scott Medical and Healthcare CollegeStudio schools | +0.03average | +0.40 to +1.112023–24 | 48.6 | — | Good |
| 7 | Stoke Damerel Community CollegeAcademy converter | -0.01average | -0.38 to +0.012023–24 | 40.9 | 0.91× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 8 | Plymstock SchoolAcademy converter | -0.07average | -0.17 to +0.172023–24 | 46.4 | 0.63× | Good |
| 9 | Hele's SchoolAcademy converter | -0.08average | -0.27 to +0.092023–24 | 48.4 | 1.20× | Good (ungraded) |
| 10 | Notre Dame RC SchoolAcademy converter | -0.16average | -0.52 to -0.032023–24 | 43.3 | 0.82× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 11 | All Saints Church of England AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.18average | -0.33 to +0.262023–24 | 40.2 | 0.95× | Good |
| 12 | Eggbuckland Community CollegeAcademy converter | -0.18average | -0.20 to +0.202023–24 | 41.6 | 0.96× | Requires improvement |
| 13 | Marine Academy PlymouthAcademy sponsor led | -0.23below average | -0.61 to -0.102023–24 | 43.3 | 0.97× | Good |
| 14 | Tor Bridge HighAcademy converter | -0.31below average | -0.32 to +0.102023–24 | 41.8 | 0.98× | Good |
| 15 | Plympton AcademyAcademy converter | -0.37below average | -0.59 to -0.192023–24 | 43.0 | 0.83× | Requires improvement |
| 16 | St Boniface's RC CollegeAcademy sponsor led | -0.47below average | -0.64 to +0.072023–24 | 39.4 | 0.98× | — |
| 17 | Millbay AcademyFree schools | -0.77well below average | -0.84 to -0.172023–24 | 32.2 | 0.92× | Good |
| 18 | UTC PlymouthUniversity technical college | -1.19well below average | -1.48 to -0.782023–24 | 30.4 | 1.00× | Good |
2 of the 17 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Devonport High School for Girls'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. 9 schools here have 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.
| City College Plymouth | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| Oneschool Global Uk Plymouth Campus | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Plymouth College | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
| Sir John Hunt Community Sports College | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
The most sought-after school in Plymouth for 2026 entry was Devonport High School for Girls at 1.58 first preferences per place — 250 families named it first for 158 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.