Barton Manor School
similar schools
Barton Manor School is a free school in Canterbury for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 596 pupils and room for 1,050. About 42 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 69 out of 100. That puts it above schools like it, ahead of 85% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Spring Lane, Canterbury, CT1 1SU01227 532140bartonmanor.orgMr Richard Morgan headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 13 May 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
0 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. Fewer than eleven pupils sat the exams, so the figures could identify individual children.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
606 places were empty (58% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Kent council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (36), emotional and mental health (30), language and communications needs (21), Specific learning difficulty (20), Moderate learning difficulty (13), Physical disability (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 596 | 449 | 300 | 149 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 42% | 43% | 38% | 37% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 28% | 25% | 25% | 20% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 14% | 13% | 13% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 7% | 7% | 5% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.1% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 6.9% | 6.5% | 6.1% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.8% | 2.7% | 2.7% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.1% | 3.8% | 3.4% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 18.3% | 17.4% | 17.2% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 47.7 | 46.7 | 68.5 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 1 | 0 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barton Court Grammar School | Academy (grammar) | 670 m | 995 | Good 2020 | 92 | Compare |
| Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School | Voluntary (grammar) | 0.6 miles | 1,258 | Good 2023 | 88 | Compare |
| St Anselm's Catholic School, Canterbury | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,116 | Good 2023 | 34 | Compare |
| Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys | Foundation (grammar) | 1.1 miles | 1,226 | No overall grade 2024 | 89 | Compare |
| The Canterbury Academy | Academy | 1.6 miles | 1,984 | Report card 2026 | 23 | Compare |
| The Archbishop's School | Foundation | 1.8 miles | 770 | Good 2023 | 10 | Compare |
| Orion Spires | Academy | 3.4 miles | 620 | Good 2023 | 16 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Barton Manor School with the 47 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 47 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 69 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 69% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 49 to 82. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | above | +0.42 | Ofsted grade, 1.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.18 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | +0.05 | 2024/25; 476 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What pupils do next | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Barton Manor School a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Barton Manor School scores 69 out of 100. That is above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 85% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 49 to 82, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Barton Manor School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Barton Manor School not judged at its last full inspection on 13 May 2025.
How many pupils does Barton Manor School have?
596 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,050 places, so it is 57% full.
Is Barton Manor School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 606 places were empty in 2024/25 (58% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Barton Manor School?
Pupils were in school 93.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 18% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Barton Manor School?
The average class had 22.9 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does Barton Manor School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Spring Lane, Canterbury, CT1 1SU
- Telephone
- 01227 532140
- Website
- www.bartonmanor.org
- Headteacher
- Mr Richard Morgan
- Type of school
- Free school (Free schools, free schools)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Barton Court Academy Trust (3 schools)
- Local authority
- Kent
- Ward
- Barton
- Constituency
- Canterbury
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2022 (new provision)
- URN
- 149039 · LAESTAB 8864028 · UKPRN 10090861
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.