Surrey Secondary Schools: How to Read the Data

Surrey’s state secondary sector spans eleven local authority areas and around 100 state-funded secondary schools registered on the DfE’s GIAS register. The county includes community secondary schools, academies, and faith schools — each inspected by Ofsted on different timelines and against two different frameworks since 2024. Surrey itself is non-selective; some neighbouring London boroughs operate selective grammar schools, but Surrey County Council does not run a county-wide selective admissions system.

This post covers how the ranking is built, what data it draws on, how to read the secondary-school measures that matter for families considering a move to Surrey, and why an area-level look at schools near a specific postcode is more useful than a county league table for a buying decision.

How to read the data

Ofsted inspection records in the GIAS register, filtered to state-funded secondary schools in Surrey’s eleven local authority areas, are ordered by the most recent overall effectiveness judgement and, within each tier, by the inspection date (more recent inspections weighted higher).

Inspection era caveat. The same era issue that applies to primary schools applies to secondary schools. Pre-September 2024 inspections carry the old single-word overall effectiveness grade. Inspections between September 2024 and November 2025 carry four sub-judgements without an overall headline. Inspections from November 2025 onward carry the new multi-area report card. The table below flags the era for each school.

For secondary schools in particular, the 2024 framework reform also changed how sixth-form provision is graded — schools with sixth forms now receive a distinct sixth-form grade within the report card, which was previously rolled into the overall headline.

Finding secondary schools near your postcode

The full ranked list — with each school’s postcode, selective status, sixth-form provision, most recent inspection report link, and inspection era flag — is included in any Area Report covering a Surrey postcode.

Reading secondary school data beyond Ofsted

Secondary schools produce more public performance data than primary schools, and some of it is more directly comparable than Ofsted ratings across different eras. The measures worth understanding:

Progress 8

Progress 8 is the government’s headline secondary attainment measure. It estimates the progress pupils make between the end of primary school (KS2) and the end of Year 11 (KS4), relative to pupils with similar prior attainment nationally. A score of 0 means pupils progressed at the national average; a positive score means they exceeded it; a negative score means they fell below it.

Progress 8 is published by the DfE for every state secondary school in England via the school performance tables, updated annually after GCSE results in the autumn. The measure adjusts for pupil intake, which is why it is generally more useful than raw attainment percentages — a school with a challenging intake producing Progress 8 scores of +0.3 is arguably performing better than a selective school with +0.2.

Progress 8 is not available for selective grammar schools (which have no KS2-comparable intake measure) or for schools where the cohort is below the minimum threshold. It is also a trailing indicator — the most recent published data covers pupils who sat GCSEs two years ago.

Attainment 8 and the 4+ in English and maths

Attainment 8 measures the average grade across eight GCSE subjects. The percentage of pupils achieving grade 4 or above in both English and maths is the secondary measure most commonly cited and easiest to understand — grade 4 being the “standard pass.” The DfE school performance tables publish both measures per school annually.

EBacc

The English Baccalaureate measure — percentage of pupils entering (and achieving) a qualifying combination of GCSEs including English, maths, history or geography, two sciences, and a language — is published alongside Attainment 8. EBacc entry percentage is a useful indicator of whether the school expects or encourages a broad academic curriculum, particularly relevant for families considering A-level and university pathways.

The 2024 framework adds sixth-form and inclusion detail

Under the new report card from November 2025, sixth-form provision and SEND inclusion are explicitly graded rather than absorbed into the overall judgement. For schools with sixth forms, the sixth-form grade is now a standalone data point. For SEND families, the inclusion grade is a clearer signal than was available under the previous framework.

Grammar school context

Surrey itself does not operate a selective secondary system — Sutton and Kingston, which have grammar schools, are London boroughs, not Surrey. Surrey County Council runs non-selective admissions. Some families in north Surrey commute to selective schools in London boroughs or Kent; if that route is relevant, each school’s admissions criteria and 11+ arrangements need separate verification.

For any grammar school in the wider region: Progress 8 is not a meaningful metric given the selected intake. Attainment 8 scores and EBacc entry percentages are more useful public performance measures, alongside the Ofsted inspection outcome.

What proximity ranking tells you that a county table doesn’t

A county ranking of secondary schools answers “which Surrey secondaries are highest rated overall?” The question a buyer actually needs answered is: “which secondary schools are within practical distance of the postcode I am considering, and what does each one’s current data look like?”

For secondary school age children, “practical distance” is typically larger than for primary — many Surrey families with secondary-age children travel up to three to five miles, particularly where selective options are in play. But proximity still matters: the relevant schools are the ones that are near enough to be realistic options, not the top-rated school in a different district.

The Area Report for any Surrey postcode returns the five nearest secondary schools in each direction from the postcode, with current inspection data, the inspection era flag, a direct link to the full Ofsted report, and the school’s Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores where published.

Sixth forms and post-16 options

Surrey’s state secondary sector includes a mix of schools with integrated sixth forms, standalone sixth-form colleges, and areas where the sixth form is in a separate institution. For families with Year 11-and-beyond considerations, the sixth-form provision picture varies significantly by district:

• Guildford and Godalming areas have sixth-form colleges as well as school-based sixth forms
• Parts of north Surrey — Spelthorne, Runnymede — sit close to London-border provision
• Tandridge and Mole Valley have more limited post-16 options within the district itself

Post-16 options are best checked at postcode level, which is what the Area Report covers.

Methodology sources

• School data: DfE GIAS register (gov.uk/get-information-about-schools), filtered to state-funded secondary schools in Surrey local authority areas
• Inspection data: Ofsted inspection outcomes at reports.ofsted.gov.uk
• Performance data: DfE school performance tables (find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk) — Progress 8, Attainment 8, EBacc entry and achievement
• Rating era classification: Based on inspection publication date relative to September 2024 and November 2025 framework changes
• Ordering approach: Most recent overall effectiveness judgement (where published), inspection date as tiebreaker, inspection era explicitly flagged

Full methodology at /methodology/schools.

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Secondary school league tables are read more intensively than primary ones by buyers — secondary school quality has a measurable effect on property demand in Surrey, particularly around grammar school catchment areas. But the most useful read for a buying decision is the schools near the specific postcode under consideration, not the county-wide ranking.

Home-Checker’s Area Report covers schools alongside crime, flood risk, air quality, broadband and the property market for any English postcode — at £14.99 during Moving May (until 31 May), £24.99 standard.

This article is general information only. It is not legal, educational, or property advice. Grammar school entrance test processes and admissions deadlines vary by school and year — always check directly with the relevant school or local authority admissions team.

Data sources: DfE GIAS register; Ofsted inspection records; DfE school performance tables (Progress 8, Attainment 8, EBacc). Performance data updated annually after GCSE results publication.