Smithdon High School

About Smithdon High School

Smithdon High School sits within Norfolk local authority, a secondary for 11 to 16 year olds in King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Among the seven schools in its immediate borough, it ranks fifth by Progress 8 score, placing it in the bottom half locally. Across the wider Norfolk area, it comes 42nd out of 57 secondary schools. For context, the top-performing peers in the county include Hethersett Academy, Wayland Academy, and Notre Dame High School in Norwich, all of which post significantly stronger Progress 8 scores. Smithdon's own score of -0.41 is notably below the Norfolk average of -0.02, and the school sits in the bottom 50 nationally by this measure. That said, the school is popular with local families: for the 2025/26 intake it received 127 applications for 101 places, with 93 first-preference offers made from 98 first-preference applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.26. This suggests that despite middling academic rankings, the school holds a strong reputation among parents in its immediate area.

Academically, Smithdon's most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2023 rated it Good overall, a clear improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2019. Every graded category — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management — was rated Good. The school's Attainment 8 score sits at 39.9, and 54.2% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, though this drops to 31.7% at grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score is 3.59, with 25.8% of pupils entering the EBacc and 14.2% achieving it at grade 4 or above. Progress 8 is negative across most subject areas, with English showing the weakest relative progress at -0.73, while maths is closer to the national average at -0.13. The school's Progress 8 banding is classified as Below average, and its ranking in the East of England region places it in the 82nd percentile — meaning roughly 82% of schools in the region outperform it on this metric.

On the practical side, Smithdon offers a decent range of facilities including a swimming pool, sports hall, gymnasium, science labs, playing fields, library, and even a chapel. Sports provision is broad, with hockey, cross country, basketball, netball, rugby, gymnastics, football, cricket, and swimming all available. There are also several extracurricular clubs such as Young Enterprise, debate, drama, a newspaper club, and film club. The school reports a range of SEND provisions covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate and severe learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 23.9% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with above-average disadvantage. It has no sixth form or nursery provision, and is not a boarding school. Given its oversubscription and improved Ofsted rating, Smithdon is likely to suit families in the King's Lynn area who value a broad extracurricular offer and a school that has demonstrably turned around its quality of education.

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