Orchards Academy
Swanley, BR8 7TE · Kent local authority
Swanley’s School Grade A better than 85% of towns in England
What stands out about Orchards Academy
- Its own letter, D: GCSE results near the bottom of England’s secondary schools (better than 11%)
- 27% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 20 points below England’s schools
- Room to spare: 554 pupils for 828 places
- 43% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (more than England’s 30%)
- Ofsted: Inspected, March 2025 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (95 of 95)
- Progress 8 of +0.03 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did about as well at GCSE as pupils nationally with the same results at 11
- Homes in its postcode sector (BR8 7) sold for a median £395,000; Swanley’s is £396,500
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 106 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Orchards beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 38.3
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 12% of schools · Kent avg 48.6
Grade 5+ in English and maths 27%
A strong pass · higher than 10% of schools · Kent avg 49%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
+0.03: about average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26
Attainment 8 for the 47 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Orchards Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2021 (14), 2024 (5), 2025 (6). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. The Kemnal Academies Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Kent council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Swanley and Kent, side by side
2025/26All 99 graded secondaries in Kent. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Swanley’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dartford Grammar School | A+ | 10% | 78.9 |
| The Judd School | A+ | 3% | 78.3 |
| Dartford Grammar School for Girls | A+ | 24% | 77.3 |
| Tonbridge Grammar School | A+ | 2% | 77 |
| The Skinners' School | A+ | 5% | 72.7 |
| Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School | A+ | 4% | 72.5 |
| Invicta Grammar School | A+ | 8% | 70.8 |
| Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys | A+ | 8% | 69.4 |
| Weald of Kent Grammar School | A+ | 4% | 69.3 |
| Highworth Grammar School | A+ | 9% | 69.2 |
| Cranbrook School | A+ | 5% | 68.3 |
| Gravesend Grammar School | A+ | 11% | 67.9 |
| Wilmington Grammar School for Boys | A+ | 10% | 67.6 |
| Dane Court Grammar School | A+ | 19% | 67.2 |
| Maidstone Grammar School | A+ | 9% | 67 |
| Oakwood Park Grammar School | A+ | 8% | 66.1 |
| Barton Court Grammar School | A+ | 13% | 66.1 |
| Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School | A+ | 8% | 66 |
| Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School | A+ | 8% | 65.7 |
| Wilmington Grammar School for Girls | A+ | 6% | 65.3 |
| The Harvey Grammar School | A+ | 15% | 65.2 |
| Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys | A+ | 6% | 64.5 |
| The Norton Knatchbull School | A+ | 9% | 64.2 |
| Dover Grammar School for Boys | A+ | 21% | 63.1 |
| Maidstone Grammar School for Girls | A | 10% | 62.7 |
| Borden Grammar School | A+ | 11% | 62.7 |
| The Folkestone School for Girls | A | 14% | 62.3 |
| Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School | A | 17% | 62.2 |
| Mayfield Grammar School, Gravesend | A+ | 12% | 62.2 |
| Highsted Grammar School | A | 13% | 61.9 |
| Sir Roger Manwood's School | A | 13% | 59 |
| Duke of York's Royal Military School | A | 0% | 58.9 |
| Dover Grammar School for Girls | A | 20% | 56.7 |
| Bennett Memorial Diocesan School | A− | 11% | 53.4 |
| Trinity School | B | 18% | 49.7 |
| Hillview School for Girls | B | 16% | 49.1 |
| School of Science and Technology Maidstone | B | 14% | 49.1 |
| Dartford Science & Technology College | B | 23% | 47.1 |
| Sir Geoffrey Leigh Academy | B− | 29% | 46.5 |
| St John's Catholic Comprehensive | C | 28% | 45.3 |
| Wye School | B− | 24% | 45.3 |
| Leigh Academy Ebbsfleet | C | 38% | 45.2 |
| Leigh Academy Wilmington | C+ | 22% | 45.1 |
| St Anselm's Catholic School, Canterbury | C+ | 22% | 45 |
| St Gregory's Catholic School | B− | 23% | 44.8 |
| Leigh Academy Tonbridge | C | 35% | 43.9 |
| Skinners' Kent Academy | C+ | 30% | 43.8 |
| The Charles Dickens School | C− | 43% | 42.8 |
| Towers School and Sixth Form Centre | C | 31% | 42.4 |
| Westlands School | C | 30% | 42.3 |
| Saint George's Church of England School | C | 23% | 42.1 |
| Wrotham School | C− | 20% | 42.1 |
| St Simon Stock Catholic School | C− | 18% | 42 |
| Leigh Academy Mascalls | C | 26% | 41.9 |
| Leigh Academy Longfield | C− | 28% | 41.8 |
| Valley Park School | C− | 23% | 41.8 |
| Knole Academy | C | 24% | 41.3 |
| Ursuline College | C− | 38% | 40 |
| Northfleet School for Girls | C− | 40% | 39.8 |
| The Holmesdale School | D | 36% | 39.7 |
| Stone Lodge School | D | 31% | 39.5 |
| Turner Free School | C− | 46% | 39.4 |
| The North School | C− | 35% | 39.4 |
| The Malling School | D | 32% | 39.3 |
| Hadlow Rural Community School | D | 33% | 39.3 |
| Orion Spires | C− | 44% | 39.2 |
| The Marsh Academy | C− | 39% | 38.7 |
| King Ethelbert School | D | 40% | 38.7 |
| Meopham School | D | 21% | 38.4 |
| Orchards Academy | D | 43% | 38.3 |
| Leigh Academy Hugh Christie | D | 40% | 38.2 |
| Folkestone Academy | D | 55% | 38 |
| Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre | D | 29% | 37.7 |
| St George's Church of England Foundation School | D | 35% | 37.4 |
| The Whitstable School | D | 28% | 37.4 |
| The Lenham School | D | 31% | 37.3 |
| Cornwallis Academy | D | 34% | 37.2 |
| Aylesford School | D | 25% | 37.2 |
| Fulston Manor School | D | 27% | 36.8 |
| The Abbey School | D | 40% | 36.7 |
| Thamesview School | D | 48% | 36.6 |
| The John Wallis Church of England Academy | D | 40% | 36.4 |
| Brockhill Park Performing Arts College | D− | 34% | 36.1 |
| The Maplesden Noakes School | D− | 27% | 36 |
| Dover Christ Church Academy | D | 54% | 35.8 |
| Northfleet Technology College | D | 38% | 35.7 |
| Herne Bay High School | D | 33% | 35.5 |
| St Augustine Academy | D | 36% | 35.4 |
| Hartsdown Academy | D | 64% | 35.3 |
| The Canterbury Academy | D | 34% | 35.2 |
| The Sittingbourne School | D | 39% | 34.8 |
| St Edmund's Catholic School | D− | 44% | 33.7 |
| Leigh Academy Minster | D− | 42% | 33.2 |
| The Archbishop's School | D− | 57% | 32.1 |
| The Royal Harbour Academy | D− | 64% | 31.1 |
| Goodwin Academy | D− | 48% | 30.7 |
| Astor Secondary School | D− | 63% | 30.3 |
| Sandwich Technology School | D− | 40% | 30 |
| New Line Learning Academy | D− | 51% | 29.2 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025545 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Orchards Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), March 2025. Ungraded inspection: School remains Good, July 2021.
Living near Orchards Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in BR8 7, the school’s postcode sector
Swanley property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in BR8 7 sell for about the same as Swanley’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
8 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Swanley, BR8 7TE
Orchards Academy: common questions
Is Orchards Academy a good school?
By its published results, well below average: its GCSE results are better than 11% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is D), with an Attainment 8 of 38.3 and 27% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, March 2025.
How hard is it to get into Orchards Academy?
For September 2026, 95 families put Orchards Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 139 places were offered in all.
What is Orchards Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (March 2025).
How much do houses cost near Orchards Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, BR8 7, sold for a median £395,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (544 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Swanley’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.