Admiral Lord Nelson School
Academy converter · 1,245 pupils
85% stayed in education · Attainment 8 40.4
Academy sponsor led
Ark Charter Academy
- Pupils on roll
- 883of 900 places
- Free school meals
- 65.6%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 181
- Ofsted
- Inspected, 10 December 2024Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: St Luke's CofE VA Secondary School (URN 116479, until 1 September 2009).
What the data says
Ark Charter Academy has no sixth form. Of the 165 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, none moved to a sixth form college, 76% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
GCSE results in 2025 were below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 38.9 against 46.1 across England and 39.5 in Portsmouth, with 36% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Fine Art is unusually popular at GCSE: 24% of the year group took it, against 9% of pupils across England.
10% of leavers were not in sustained education, employment or training six months on, compared with 6% nationally.
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 Portsmouth and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | Ark Charter Academy | Portsmouth | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 165 | 2,031 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 83% | 88% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 78% | 82% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 1% | 3% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | 5% | 13% |
| — further education college | 76% | 72% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 5% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 10% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 7% | 4% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Ark Charter Academy | Portsmouth | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 38.9 | 39.5 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 36% | 35% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 53% | 56% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 38% | 42% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.49 | 3.50 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 58% | 39% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 33.5 | 29.8 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 46.2 | 45.6 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 34% | 19% | 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 | 181 | 100% | 89% | 13% | 20% | 54% |
| Mathematics | 180 | 99% | 88% | 15% | 22% | 58% |
| English Literature | 162 | 90% | 86% | 16% | 21% | 67% |
| Combined Science | 160 | 88% | 65% | 15% | 9% | 57% |
| Religious Studies | 120 | 66% | 31% | 37% | 32% | 85% |
| Geography | 102 | 56% | 41% | 17% | 25% | 55% |
| History | 62 | 34% | 41% | 10% | 26% | 50% |
| Physical Education | 45 | 25% | 11% | 4% | 24% | 38% |
| Fine Art | 43 | 24% | 9% | 12% | 28% | 72% |
| French | 42 | 23% | 18% | 12% | 29% | 81% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 30 | 17% | 8% | 27% | 21% | 67% |
| Photography | 28 | 15% | 6% | 32% | 19% | 96% |
| Spanish | 26 | 14% | 19% | 35% | 27% | 77% |
| Music | 23 | 13% | 5% | 22% | 33% | 87% |
| Drama | 22 | 12% | 7% | 5% | 27% | 55% |
| Arabic | 4 | 2% | 1% | — | 47% | — |
| Biology | 2 | 1% | 23% | — | 45% | — |
| German | 2 | 1% | 5% | — | 33% | — |
| Russian | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Polish | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Turkish | 1 | 1% | 0% | — | 71% | — |
| Urdu | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
Other secondary schools in Portsmouth
Castle View Academy
Academy converter · 757 pupils
74% stayed in education · Attainment 8 35.6
Mayfield School
Academy sponsor led · 1,354 pupils
75% stayed in education
Miltoncross Academy
Academy sponsor led · 983 pupils
82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 36.3
Priory School
Academy sponsor led · 1,278 pupils
89% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.7
Springfield School
Academy converter · 1,133 pupils
81% stayed in education · Attainment 8 39.8
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.