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Best secondary schools in Bristol

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Best secondary schools in Clifton

Best secondary schools in Redland

Best secondary schools in Henleaze

Best secondary schools in Bristol City centre

Best secondary schools in Southville

Special Educational Needs

Bristol’s best state secondary schools routinely receive far more applications than they have available places. Admissions here are often subject to priority area maps or a list of postcodes - the location of your house can be the critical factor in getting a place at your preferred school – and even with the ideal address, you could be at the mercy of the ‘random allocation’ lottery. While there are no grammar schools in Bristol itself, neighbouring Gloucestershire’s grammars, which apply few or no geography-based admissions criteria, attract a steady trickle of pupils from the city. Our article on secondary school admissions guides you through the process and provides advice regarding questions to ask and what to look out for.

Secondary Schools in Clifton

There are no state secondary schools in Clifton’s sought-after post code of BS8. In practice this means that those families not opting for any of Bristol’s private schools might be offered less desirable schools some way from home, owing to the difficulty of getting a place at the nearest over-subscribed state choices with their tightly drawn catchments.

Those accessible from Clifton would include nearby (longish walk) but massively oversubscribed Cotham School, or city centre St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, Bristol Cathedral Choir School both an easy bus ride away. A decision sometimes made with gritted teeth is to head out of the city across the suspension bridge to North Somerset where there are good schools, such as Backwell School, but slow commutes.

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Secondary Schools in Redland

Two sought-after state secondary schools, Cotham School and Redland Green School, dictate the high house prices, and school catchments are extremely tightly drawn. Cotham School, a former grammar school which still retains much of that look and ethos and is described in our review as ‘a diverse, busy, happy place’, has a well-deserved reputation for the standard of its performing arts. Redland Green, with its 2022 Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ and impressive academic performance is a comprehensive opened some 16 years ago in eye-catching hilltop buildings and is reckoned to be a very good alternative to independent day schools and is the other big hitter in this part of town.

After GCSE, all students move on, most to the equally well-regarded North Bristol Post 16 Centre, a jointly run facility on two sites, one at Cotham and one at Redland Green. Some students join from local feeder schools Fairfield High School (one to watch – we hear good things), Orchard School, Oasis Brightstowe Academy or Blaise High. A few might join local independents at sixth form. Applications to all the city’s state secondaries are made centrally online. 

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Secondary Schools in Henleaze

Better served by its primary provision than its state secondary. The socio-economic profile indicates that more children than expected go on to independent secondary schools and whether this is chicken or egg is hard to say. The best of the state secondaries is Bristol Free School, which gets 51 per cent of its sixth formers to Russell Group universities and 3 to Oxbridge in 2021. 

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Secondary Schools in Bristol City Centre

Two notable state secondary schools attract students from all over the city. St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School sits right next to St Mary Redcliffe, ‘The fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England,’ according to no less a commentator than Elizabeth I. Its continuing close links to the church inform its exceptional admissions policy, which invites children from Christian communities all over Bristol to apply, plus just 20 from the area immediately surrounding it, four of whom must practice an active faith (any). With consistently good results, it is also noted for its humanities teaching and music.

Not unlike it in some respects is Bristol Cathedral Choir School, a state secondary despite a choral tradition more commonly found in the private sector; it was an independent school until 2008. Sited bang next to Bristol Cathedral and sharing some of its buildings and rich musical heritage (ten per cent of year 7 students are admitted on the basis of their musical abilities and there are eight places for choristers, who have been probationers since year 4), the school is oversubscribed with ten applicants for every place. Academically, it sits five percentage points behind St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School in the city’s league tables of A level results and like Temple, has no catchment area, but unlike it, no faith requirement either, despite being a Church of England faith school. Admissions to both schools are handled by Bristol City Council, using the common application form.  

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Secondary Schools in Southville

Ashton Park School serves Southville and Bedminster at secondary level and our sources tell us it’s on the up. Despite greater visibility, no-one would (yet) move to Totterdown purely for its schools. National academy chain Oasis has a couple of schools in the vicinity, but their stated mission is to bring advantage to less advantaged children, so they prioritise deprived areas. Some children will travel south out of the city to the excellent Chew Valley School or Backwell School. 

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State secondary schools for children with special educational needs in Bristol

The local authority provides details online of its SEN provision and services. The Bristol special schools available to secondary school aged children include the all-through schools already mentioned in the primary school section. Claremont School, Kingsweston and New Fosseway all cater for children with severe physical disabilities or profound learning difficulties.

Mainstream secondary schools with stand-out SEN provision include Ashton Park School with its Speech, Language and Communication unit and The City Academy Bristol with a unit supporting children with social, emotional and mental health needs, specific learning difficulties (such as dyslexia), autism or social communication needs, ADHD, as well as physical and sensory needs.

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