Alderwood School
Community school · 1,471 pupils
81% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.2
Foundation school
Cove School
- Pupils on roll
- 1,007of 1,050 places
- Free school meals
- 27.6%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 186
- Ofsted
- Inspected, 21 January 2025Read the Ofsted report
What the data says
Cove School has no sixth form. Of the 198 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 36% moved to a sixth form college, 46% to a further education college and 4% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 36% of leavers went to one, roughly twice the England rate of 13%.
Food Preparation and Nutrition is unusually popular at GCSE: 28% of the year group took it, against 8% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 42.7 against 46.1 across England and 45.5 in Hampshire, with 36% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Hampshire and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Cove School | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 198 | 14,028 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 90% | 92% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 84% | 85% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 2% | 6% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 36% | 40% | 13% |
| — further education college | 46% | 38% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 1% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 4% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 7% | 6% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 3% | 2% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Cove School | Hampshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 42.7 | 45.5 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 36% | 45% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 54% | 65% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 36% | 34% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.77 | 4.02 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 24% | 21% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 38.9 | 30.5 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 43.9 | 49.5 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 17% | 8% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 185 | 99% | 89% | 8% | 20% | 59% |
| Mathematics | 185 | 99% | 88% | 18% | 22% | 61% |
| English Literature | 181 | 97% | 86% | 13% | 21% | 62% |
| Religious Studies | 181 | 97% | 31% | 16% | 32% | 60% |
| History | 127 | 68% | 41% | 19% | 26% | 53% |
| Combined Science | 126 | 68% | 65% | 6% | 9% | 39% |
| Computer Science | 77 | 41% | 13% | 10% | 30% | 49% |
| Physical Education | 63 | 34% | 11% | 10% | 24% | 49% |
| Physics | 57 | 31% | 23% | 35% | 46% | 84% |
| Chemistry | 57 | 31% | 23% | 37% | 47% | 86% |
| Biology | 57 | 31% | 23% | 30% | 45% | 91% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 52 | 28% | 8% | 8% | 21% | 44% |
| Geography | 40 | 22% | 41% | 15% | 25% | 45% |
| Fine Art | 37 | 20% | 9% | 0% | 28% | 35% |
| French | 31 | 17% | 18% | 10% | 29% | 55% |
| Spanish | 26 | 14% | 19% | 27% | 27% | 85% |
| Graphic Communication | 24 | 13% | 1% | 0% | 23% | 8% |
| 3D Design | 23 | 12% | 2% | 0% | 16% | 30% |
| Music | 21 | 11% | 5% | 10% | 33% | 71% |
| Drama | 16 | 9% | 7% | 6% | 27% | 56% |
| Textiles | 15 | 8% | 2% | 0% | 27% | 13% |
| German | 13 | 7% | 5% | 54% | 33% | 77% |
| Urdu | 2 | 1% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
| Polish | 2 | 1% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Chinese | 2 | 1% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Studies | 48 | — | — |
Where Cove School is
Other secondary schools in Hampshire are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from Hampshire’s allocation statistics.
Other secondary schools in Hampshire
Amery Hill School
Academy converter · 982 pupils
93% stayed in education · Attainment 8 50.0
Applemore College
Foundation school · 478 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 36.7
Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School
Voluntary aided school · 894 pupils
91% stayed in education · Attainment 8 59.3
Bohunt School
Academy converter · sixth form · 2,012 pupils
92% stayed in education · Attainment 8 56.3
Bridgemary School
Academy sponsor led · 814 pupils
78% stayed in education · Attainment 8 33.8
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.