Dover Christ Church Academy

Dover · CT16 2EG

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 761 pupils, 53.6% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted: Requires improvement

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN SEN unit · 20.6% on SEN support Behaviour 8.1% absence rate Staff 25.5% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

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Dover Christ Church Academy

General Information

Address: Melbourne Avenue, Dover, CT16 2EG – View on map
Phone: 01304820126
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Dr Matt TATE
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 137 families put it first for 131 places – 10 for every 10 places. 85% of them were offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2024 8 · 2025 9 · 2026 10
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

761 pupils out of 990 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 398
% eligible for free school meals: 53.6%
Pupil mix: 2 in 10 (less mixed than the Dover average)
English as an additional language: 6% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 25.5% a year (Dover 16%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 39% moved to another school, 61% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 2 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Kent: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 155 (1.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 189 (1.6 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 83 (0.7 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Kent (the council area this school is in), not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 8.1%
Persistently absent pupils: 28.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

SEN unit for Profound and multiple learning difficulties 72 places · 69 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 20.6%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 11.0%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 46 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 44 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 40 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 9 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Specific learning difficulty: 17 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 16 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 16 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 11 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 7 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Requires improvement 2022 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Attainment 8 score: 30.4
Compared with the area: 13.2 points below the Dover average (43.6)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Below (−5.1 points against an expected 35.5)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 28% (Dover 58%, England 65%) Broadly steady
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolDover averageEngland↗ Improving Up 2.7 points since 2023/24. In 2024/25 this school was 13.2 points below the Dover average (43.6).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

8th of 9 secondary schools in Dover for Attainment 8

#6Sandwich Technology School35.3
#7Goodwin Academy30.5
#8Dover Christ Church Academy30.4
#9Astor Secondary School27.9

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Dover Grammar School for Boys65.4
#2Sir Roger Manwood's School62.7
#3Dover Grammar School for Girls59.9
#4Duke of York's Royal Military School55.0
#5St Edmund's Catholic School39.0
#6Sandwich Technology School35.3
#7Goodwin Academy30.5
#8Dover Christ Church Academy30.4
#9Astor Secondary School27.9

GCSE Subjects Offered

English Language
Maths (General)
English Literature
History
Science Double Award
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Physics (General)
Geography
Art & Design
Sociology
French Language
Community Development

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

5th of 5 secondary schools in Dover for Ofsted rating

#3Sir Roger Manwood's SchoolGood
#4St Edmund's Catholic SchoolGood
#5Dover Christ Church AcademyRequires improvement

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Dover Grammar School for BoysGood
#2Duke of York's Royal Military SchoolGood
#3Sir Roger Manwood's SchoolGood
#4St Edmund's Catholic SchoolGood
#5Dover Christ Church AcademyRequires improvement

Financials

Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Kent: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

GCSE Subjects Offered