Coombe Girls' School and Sixth Form is an all-girls

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

with academy status in

New Malden New Malden is a suburban area in southwest London, England. It is within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Norb ...

, South West London. It offers a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

joint with nearby

Coombe Boys' School Coombe Boys' School and Sixth Form is a non-selective state secondary school with a mixed sixth form in New Malden, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, England. The cohort comprises boys from Years 7 to 11, and a sixth form facility joint wi ...

. The school is a Leading Edge School and specialises in languages.

History

Coombe Girls' School was established in 1955 as Coombe County Secondary Girls' School (a name it kept until 1965) and has remained an all-girls school ever since. The school now forms part of the Coombe Academy Trust along with Coombe Boys' School and Knollmead, Green Lane and Robin Hood local primary schools.

Ofsted report

The school was inspected in 2024, with an overall judgement of Good. The school was judged as Good in 'Quality of Education', 'Behaviour and Attitudes', 'Leadership and Management' and 'Sixth Form Provision', and Outstanding in 'Personal Development'. The inspectors commented that "Leaders provide a high-quality education to all pupils" and that "

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are ambitious for the school and have implemented a number of changes recently". Although the attainment of students by the end of Year 13 was below the national average, pupils in Key Stage 4 were found to achieve very well across all subjects, and the inspectors remarked that the school "has made considerable improvements to strengthen the curriculum in the sixth form." The school was previously inspected as Outstanding in 2013.

Exam results

In 2024, 41% of all GCSE examinations were awarded grades 7 to 9, while the school achieved a provisional Progress 8 score of 0.7, classed as "well above the national average". The average grade achieved by 16–18 A-level students was C, below the national average. Coombe Girls' was named one of the best state secondary schools in the country in ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle c ...

'' magazine's 2015 State Schools Guide.

Notable alumni

Jacqueline Wilson Dame Jacqueline Wilson (' Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an English novelist known for her popular children's literature. Her novels have been notable for tackling realistic topics such as adoption and divorce. Since her debut novel in 1969, ...

, children's author *

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...

, lead singer of the folk rock band

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

* Penny Spencer, actress best-known for playing Sharon in the first three series of the ITV school sitcom ''

Please Sir! ''Please Sir!'' is a British television sitcom created by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and featuring actors John Alderton, Deryck Guyler, Penny Spencer, Joan Sanderson, Noel Howlett, Erik Chitty and Richard Davies. Produced by London Weeke ...

''.Look-In Issue 7, 20th February 1971, p19

References

External links

School Website
{{authority control Girls' schools in London Academies in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Educational institutions established in 1955 1955 establishments in England Secondary schools in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames New Malden