The Compton School

About The Compton School

The Compton School is a large, mixed secondary in the London borough of Barnet, and it is effectively full: its 1,352 pupils sit just two above the official capacity of 1,350. That near-perfect occupancy is no surprise given the demand. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 1,070 applications for 196 places, an oversubscription ratio of 5.46 to one, and 212 families put it as their first preference, of whom 146 received an offer. The pupil body is notably diverse in socio-economic terms: 31.3 per cent of students are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average for secondary schools and a figure that suggests a genuinely comprehensive intake. The school is non-religious and co-educational, and it operates an official sixth form, so students can stay on from Year 7 through to 18. With an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, confirmed in its most recent ungraded inspection in 2024, it sits among six Outstanding secondaries in Barnet’s 32-school state secondary landscape.

Academically, The Compton School delivers results that comfortably exceed both local and national benchmarks. Its Progress 8 score of 0.73 is classified as ‘well above average’ and places it 13th out of 28 schools in Barnet, a strong showing in a competitive London borough where the average Progress 8 is 0.6. The school’s Attainment 8 score sits at 57, and 80.7 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is 42.6 per cent, with 36.1 per cent achieving the full EBacc at grade 4 or above. In the sixth form, the picture is similarly strong: the value-added score of 0.19 is rated ‘above average’, and students averaged a C+ grade per entry, with 33.36 points per entry. The school ranks 255th nationally out of 3,141 schools on Progress 8, putting it in the top 9 per cent of all state secondaries in England.

The school offers a broad set of facilities, including a swimming pool, sports hall, astro turf, music rooms, a library, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports on offer include rugby, football, rowing and cricket, while extracurricular clubs range from Model UN and Debate to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Young Enterprise. The school’s SEND provision is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and physical or sensory impairments. For families weighing up options in north London, The Compton School stands out as a high-performing, genuinely comprehensive school that is heavily oversubscribed for good reason. It suits families who want strong academic outcomes in a large, mixed, non-selective setting with a full sixth form and a wide range of enrichment opportunities.

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