Comprehensive School
A non-selective state secondary school that admits pupils across the full range of ability.
A comprehensive school is a non-selective state secondary that admits pupils across the full range of academic ability. There is no entrance exam; places are allocated using oversubscription criteria.
Comprehensives are the dominant model in England. Most operate as academies today, though some remain under local authority control as community schools.
A high-performing comprehensive can match or exceed grammar-school outcomes for top-end pupils while serving the whole community. When comparing schools, look at Progress 8 as well as raw results - a comprehensive with strong Progress 8 is a school that lifts its pupils above expectations regardless of starting point.
Some comprehensives use banding to balance their intake; this keeps them genuinely comprehensive even in high-demand areas where distance alone would skew the cohort.