The Castle School A GSG School
- The Castle School
Park Road
Thornbury
Bristol
Gloucestershire
BS35 1HT - Head: Ms Jessica Lobbett
- T 01454 862100
- F 01454 862101
- E cas-enquiries.tcs@cset.co.uk
- W www.thecastleschool.org.uk/
- A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18.
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: South Gloucestershire
- Pupils: 1,455; sixth formers: 251
- Religion: Does not apply
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
- 1 Short inspection 25th November 2021
Short inspection reports only give an overall grade; you have to read the report itself to gauge whether the detailed grading from the earlier full inspection still stands.
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
Parents (including those for whom grammar schools were an option) told us their children ‘are reaching their potential, and some’. ‘Way above my expectations,’ said one; another telling us that her daughter struggles in some subjects ‘but due to solid teaching and great strategies, is doing well’. Some would like more reports and in-person parents’ evenings, but there’s praise for the frequent tests, preparation for exams and ‘the fact that the children can email the teachers anytime’. Bar one lesson (with a cover teacher), we saw focused, uninterrupted learning throughout. Many of the staff have taught here for over 10 years, and their experience shows. Newer blood, meanwhile, brings fresh ideas – one managing to inject fun into algebra (yes, really). Pupils talk the talk about metacognition…
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What The Good Schools Guide says
Head
Since September 2023, Jessica Lobbett MRes BMus NPQH. A dynamic, youthful and principled head, although she insists the real star of the school is Betty Barbara Wilcox, who greets visitors in reception, often by skateboarding along the desk. And if you think that’s wacky, get this – the pupils crochet outfits for her. Betty, it turns out, is the school tortoise – and quite the local celeb.
No wonder pupils rave about Miss Lobbett, whose fun side has also led to the introduction of Castlefest, an annual summer festival complete with rides, games, food and stalls organised and run by pupils. They told us she is ‘supportive’ and ‘really nice’. Of the parents we spoke to, some had more of a sense of her than others – those that do telling...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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