Best secondary schools in Southampton

St Anne's Catholic School is the top-ranked secondary school in Southampton (LocaleIQ score 90.4 out of 100). Ofsted: Outstanding. Attainment 8 55.6. The score combines Ofsted outcome, Progress 8 and Attainment 8, and cohort-weighted percentile ranks within the Southampton secondary pool.

Springhill Catholic Primary School tops the Southampton primary school ranking (LocaleIQ 98.7). Ofsted: Outstanding. KS2 expected 95% · higher 21%. See the full primary school ranking for Southampton for the complete list.

Attainment 8 measures average GCSE grades across eight subjects; Progress 8 compares actual grades against predictions based on KS2 — a positive figure means pupils outperformed expectations. Top performers in Southampton: St Anne's Catholic School (Attainment 8 55.6); Saint George Catholic Voluntary Aided College Southampton (Attainment 8 60.0); Cantell School (Attainment 8 46.9). Both metrics feed into the LocaleIQ secondary school score.

3 secondary schools in the Southampton ranking hold an Outstanding Ofsted rating: St Anne's Catholic School, Saint George Catholic Voluntary Aided College Southampton, Cantell School. Outstanding means Ofsted judged the school exceptional in all inspection areas. LocaleIQ weighs DfE performance data alongside Ofsted, so a Good-rated school can still rank highly.

This ranking covers 11 secondary schools in the Southampton comparison pool. Schools without sufficient published data are excluded but may appear in the LocaleIQ directory.

By average LocaleIQ score across postcode areas, SO15 has the strongest cluster — 69.7 average across 2 ranked secondary schools. SO19 sits at the lower end (10.2 average). City-wide school reputation is useless without the postcode context behind it. Postcode averages mask individual variation — always review each school's full profile.