The Winston Churchill School A Specialist Sports College

About The Winston Churchill School A Specialist Sports College

Parents considering The Winston Churchill School in Woking will find a school that is clearly popular with local families. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 589 applications for 343 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.72. Of those applications, 222 were first-preference choices, and all 222 were offered places. This level of demand suggests the school holds a strong reputation in the community, though it is worth noting that the school does not have a sixth form, so pupils will need to move on after Year 11. The school is a mixed, non-denominational secondary for ages 11 to 16, with a current roll of 1,471 pupils against a capacity of 1,500, meaning it is operating very close to full. Its most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in November 2023, confirmed the school remains Good, a rating it has held consistently since at least its previous graded inspection in 2015.

Academically, the school’s performance is broadly in line with the national average. Its Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year was -0.01, which is classified as Average. This places the school 37th out of 66 secondary schools in Surrey, and 5th out of 5 in Woking itself. The Attainment 8 score was 47.5, and 48.6% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths (the basics 5 measure). The EBacc entry rate was 54.8%, with 27.7% of pupils achieving the EBacc at grade 5 or above. The school’s EBacc average point score was 4.3. Compared with the Surrey local authority average Progress 8 score of 0.26, the school sits slightly below the LA norm, but its performance is still within the average band nationally. The school’s ranking in the South East region places it in the 51st percentile, and nationally it ranks 1,537th out of 3,141 schools.

The school offers a wide range of facilities, including a swimming pool, sports hall, astro turf, tennis courts, and science labs, which support its specialism as a sports college. Sports on offer include rowing, gymnastics, martial arts, and athletics, alongside more traditional options like football and netball. There is also a strong extracurricular programme with clubs covering art, coding, Model UN, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, debate, and Young Enterprise. The school has a comprehensive SEND provision, supporting pupils with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 18.5% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a diverse intake. Given its oversubscription, families living within the catchment area should apply early, and those with a strong interest in sport or a child who would benefit from a broad range of SEND support may find it a particularly good fit.

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