St Bernard's High School

Southend-on-Sea · SS0 7JS

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 1001 pupils, 16.5% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 5.9% on SEN support Behaviour 5.2% absence rate Staff 24.8% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

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St Bernard's High School

General Information

Address: Milton Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 7JS – View on map
Phone: 01702343583
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Helen Barnes
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 184 families put it first for 175 places – 11 for every 10 places. 78% of them were offered a place. 45 of the 175 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 11 · 2024 10 · 2025 11 · 2026 11
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Girls
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1001 pupils out of 1030 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 144
% eligible for free school meals: 16.5%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (more mixed than the Southend-on-Sea average)
English as an additional language: 21% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 24.8% a year (Southend-on-Sea 16.3%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 40% moved to another school, 60% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 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 Southend-on-Sea: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 56 (3.7 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
Suspensions for bullying: 20 (1.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 8 (0.5 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 Southend-on-Sea, 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: 5.2%
Persistently absent pupils: 13.2%
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

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 5.9%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 1.8%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Specific learning difficulty: 18 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 16 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 10 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 8 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 3 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 9 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 4 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 2 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 1 pupil
Physical disability: 1 pupil

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.

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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

Good 2023 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: 54.9
Compared with the area: 1.3 points above the Southend-on-Sea average (53.6)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Above (+2.8 points against an expected 52.1)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 83% (Southend-on-Sea 73%, 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 schoolSouthend-on-Sea averageEngland↘ Falling Down 3.6 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 1.3 points above the Southend-on-Sea average (53.6).

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.

5th of 12 secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea for Attainment 8

#3Southend High School for Girls75.0
#4Southend High School for Boys73.8
#5St Bernard's High School54.9
#6St Thomas More High School52.3
#7The Eastwood Academy51.6

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Westcliff High School for Boys Academy77.6
#2Westcliff High School for Girls75.6
#3Southend High School for Girls75.0
#4Southend High School for Boys73.8
#5St Bernard's High School54.9
#6St Thomas More High School52.3
#7The Eastwood Academy51.6
#8Belfairs Academy45.5
#9Chase High School39.2
#10Southchurch High School38.7
#11Shoeburyness High School37.6
#12Cecil Jones Academy35.1

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 99.0%
Went into further education: 97.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
Religious Studies
English Literature
Classical Civilisation
Science Double Award
Psychology (General)
Art & Design
Food Technology
Geography
Business Studies
History
Physics (General)
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Speech & Drama
Sports Studies
Spanish
Computer Science
Dance: General
Music Studies (General)
Italian
Polish
Chinese
German

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

8th of 10 secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea for Ofsted rating

#6Cecil Jones AcademyGood
#7Shoeburyness High SchoolGood
#8St Bernard's High SchoolGood
#9St Thomas More High SchoolGood
#10Belfairs 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

#1Southend High School for BoysOutstanding
#2Southend High School for GirlsOutstanding
#3The Eastwood AcademyOutstanding
#4Westcliff High School for Boys AcademyOutstanding
#5Westcliff High School for GirlsOutstanding
#6Cecil Jones AcademyGood
#7Shoeburyness High SchoolGood
#8St Bernard's High SchoolGood
#9St Thomas More High SchoolGood
#10Belfairs 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 Southend-on-Sea: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered