Alderman Peel High School Review 2026: Small-school pastoral strength with standout personal development

Set in Wells-next-the-Sea, Alderman Peel High School serves students from across the local coastal and rural area, combining a relatively small secondary roll with unusually broad facilities and a strong community footprint. Since opening in 1963, the school’s identity has been closely tied to local public service through its namesake, Sam Peel, and it now sits within The Wensum Trust, giving it access to wider trust support while retaining a clear local character.

The 2022 inspection headline, Good overall with Outstanding for personal development, aligns with the school’s most distinctive feature, the way it prioritises student maturity, responsibility and confidence alongside academic learning.

Parents should go in with a clear-eyed view of outcomes. In FindMySchool’s GCSE ranking, performance sits in line with the middle 35% of secondary schools in England (25th to 60th percentile), while admissions demand indicates steady competition for places rather than a guaranteed entry route for all applicants. For many families, the value proposition is straightforward, a state secondary with a strong support culture, extensive sport and enrichment infrastructure, and clear routines for students who benefit from structure and belonging.

This is a school that leans into being known. Students are recognised quickly, relationships matter, and the day is designed to run predictably. The school describes clear expectations around uniform, equipment and conduct, with a rewards culture that makes achievement visible and concrete, rather than abstract. That style tends to suit students who respond to consistency and who do best when adults notice effort as well as attainment.

Leadership context is also important for parents comparing “then and now”. Mr Matthew Hardman is the Principal, and published governance information for the school notes he was appointed in September 2022, after serving previously as Vice Principal or Associate Headteacher. In practical terms, that usually means continuity of local knowledge with scope for sharper operational change, rather than a wholesale reset.

Alderman Peel runs a four-house structure, Mersey, Shannon, Trent and Waveney. The school itself explains these names as linked to lifeboat classes, which fits Wells-next-the-Sea’s coastal identity and gives the house system a local meaning rather than a generic label.

A fair way to read the numbers is to separate three questions, how the school performs in broad national context, how students progress from their starting points, and what that implies for different learner profiles.

Overall positioning (FindMySchool ranking)

Ranked 2,680th in England and 1st in Wells-next-the-Sea for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking, based on official data), results place the school in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile). In parent terms, this is not a school selected primarily for headline exam outcomes, but it is not an outlier at the lower end either. It sits in a broadly typical national performance bracket, with strengths elsewhere that many families weight heavily.

Attainment and progress

The school’s Attainment 8 score is 42, and Progress 8 is -0.31. Progress 8 is designed so that 0 represents average progress compared with pupils nationally with similar starting points, so a negative score indicates students, on average, make less progress than similar peers nationally. For parents, the implication is to look carefully at how the school supports learning habits, literacy and revision routines, particularly for students who need more scaffolding to maintain momentum.

EBacc indicators

The school’s average EBacc APS is 3.59, with 10.9% achieving grades 5 or above across the EBacc measure. EBacc measures tend to reflect how consistently students perform across a specific academic suite, so these figures suggest the school’s strongest proposition is not a narrow academic pipeline, but a broader offer that includes practical and creative routes alongside core subjects.

A useful shortlisting approach is to use the FindMySchool Local Hub comparison tools to view nearby secondaries side-by-side, then weight academic outcomes against the pastoral and enrichment strengths that are unusually well evidenced here.

The curriculum intent is framed around breadth and sequencing. In 2022, the inspection report highlighted ambitious curriculum planning, regular assessment and strong subject areas including English and mathematics, while also identifying science as an area still developing at that point. For parents, that combination usually translates to a school that does the basics well, is conscious of knowledge-building over time, and is actively working on consistency between departments.

Two operational details are worth knowing because they shape day-to-day learning.

First, the school builds in dedicated reading time in the middle of the day, rather than treating reading as an “extra”. That can be particularly beneficial for students whose home reading routines are inconsistent, and it tends to support vocabulary growth across subjects over time.

Second, the school has an amended curriculum pathway that explicitly teaches life and social skills, including community engagement and a travel-focused programme designed to help students use public transport safely. This is not framed as a separate unit for a different school, it is integrated as an educational pathway for students who need it. The implication for families is that the school has thought carefully about functional outcomes and independence, not only grades.

Where Students Go Next

Alderman Peel is an 11 to 16 school, so the key transition is post-16. The school’s official inspection reporting noted that Year 11 students progressed into further education, training or employment at the time. While the school does not publish a destination breakdown in the information available here, the practical implication is that families should plan early for sixth form or college choices, particularly if a student’s interests require specialist post-16 provision not available locally.

What the school does publish extensively is the preparation work that supports transition readiness. Careers education is described as firmly established, and the wider enrichment structure includes leadership roles and responsibilities that tend to translate well into interviews, college applications and early workplace experiences.

Alderman Peel is a state school, so there are no tuition fees. Admission to Year 7 is coordinated through Norfolk local authority arrangements rather than handled as a private-school style direct entry route.

Demand and competitiveness

The most recent admissions demand data provided shows 188 applications for 109 offers for the main entry route, with the school recorded as oversubscribed. That equates to 1.72 applications per offer, a level of competition that matters, but is not typically associated with extreme catchment lockouts seen in the most oversubscribed urban schools. First preferences also exceed offers, with a 1.19 ratio, suggesting a meaningful proportion of applicants list the school as a genuine first choice rather than a backup.

Published admission number

The school’s admissions policy sets a Published Admission Number of 105 for Year 7 in 2025 to 26, increasing to 112 for 2026 to 27. This matters for families applying for September 2026 entry, as the larger number modestly increases capacity, but does not remove the need to apply on time.

Oversubscription priorities

Where applications exceed places, the admissions policy prioritises, in order, looked after and previously looked after children, siblings, children of staff in specified circumstances, then feeder school children in catchment, feeder school children out of catchment, and finally distance from the school measured in a straight line. Parents assessing chances should focus on which of these priority groups applies, because distance only becomes decisive once the earlier criteria are exhausted.

Key dates for September 2026 entry

Norfolk’s published secondary admissions timetable lists applications opening on 11 September 2025 and closing on 31 October 2025, with national offer day on 2 March 2026 and appeals closing on 27 March 2026. If you missed the on-time deadline, late applications are still possible, but they are processed after on-time applications.

For parents who are using catchment and distance as part of a broader shortlist, it is sensible to use FindMySchool’s Map Search tools to understand realistic travel and proximity, then treat admissions criteria as the deciding framework rather than informal local assumptions.

Pastoral support is the clearest differentiator here, and it is not presented as a bolt-on. The school’s Hub is described as a staffed, specialist support base for students with worries or concerns, and it sits alongside a wider safeguarding structure with clear designated roles. For parents, the implication is that students who need a predictable “go-to” space, or who benefit from early intervention when anxieties build, are likely to find the infrastructure reassuring.

The school also makes explicit links between wellbeing and learning readiness, including in published policy, which matters because it signals that pastoral work is expected to support classroom outcomes rather than compete with them.

Families should still do the usual due diligence during tours, ask how the Hub operates day to day, how students are referred, and what thresholds apply. A support system can be well designed, but parents need to know whether it functions as early help, crisis support, or both.

Extracurricular provision is unusually concrete for a state secondary, because much of it is anchored in facilities and named programmes rather than generic “clubs”.

Sport and physical education infrastructure

The school site hosts Sport-A-Peel, a sports and leisure centre with community access and a clear link to student sport and courses such as GCSE Physical Education. Facilities include a swimming pool and a 3G pitch, and the pool is described with specific dimensions on the Sport-A-Peel site. For students, the benefit is straightforward, regular access to facilities that many schools rely on external hire for, which makes activity routines easier to sustain across the year.

STEM with real outputs

The school’s STEM work is not only classroom-based. It runs a Greenpower programme in which students design, build and race electric kit cars, and the school reports qualification for national finals. This is the kind of project that builds engineering habits, iteration, and team accountability, while also giving students tangible experiences to talk about in interviews and applications.

Music with named ensembles

Music provision includes clearly named groups such as APHS Choir, the APHS Chamber Choir Acuti, the APHS Wind Band, the First Notes Wind Ensemble, and an ABRSM Music Theory Club. The implication is that students can progress through a ladder of ensembles rather than being limited to a single choir or annual performance, which often supports confidence for students who prefer structured group activity to competitive sport.

A useful parent question is not “how many clubs exist”, but “how easy is it for my child to join something and keep attending”. With facilities on site and programmes designed around school routines, Alderman Peel’s structure generally makes sustained participation more realistic.

The published school day runs from tutor time starting at 08:35 through to the end of Period 5 at 15:05, with breakfast available from 08:15 and a dedicated reading time built into the middle of the day. This timetable is important for families coordinating transport and after-school commitments.

Transport is an active consideration for a school serving a wider rural area. The school publishes bus service information for students, and there are also public bus services that explicitly route to the school, including services labelled as serving Alderman Peel High School. Parents should verify the current route and timing for their village, then plan for seasonal variation and after-school club participation.

• Progress measures are an area to interrogate. A Progress 8 score of -0.31 suggests the average student makes less progress than similar peers nationally. Families should ask how teaching teams identify students who are falling behind early, and what the practical intervention looks like week to week.

• Oversubscription is real. With 188 applications for 109 offers in the most recent data, applying on time matters, and some families will be disappointed. This is not a school where you should rely on informal expectations of entry.

• Post-16 planning needs to start early. As an 11 to 16 school, the next step after Year 11 is an external provider. Parents should consider travel, course mix and pastoral fit for the next setting, not as an afterthought in Year 11.

• Presentation and SEND precision were improvement points. The most recent inspection reporting highlighted inconsistency in presentation expectations and the precision of some SEND learning information. Ask what has changed since 2022, particularly if your child depends on clearly specified strategies.

Alderman Peel High School’s defining strength is the combination of pastoral infrastructure and personal development, backed by a clear daily routine and substantial on-site sport and enrichment facilities. Academic outcomes sit in a broadly typical England performance bracket, so the best fit is often a student who will benefit from being known, supported and encouraged into structured opportunities, whether that is sport, music, leadership or hands-on STEM. This school suits families who value wellbeing and belonging as much as grades, and who want a community-rooted state secondary with a serious enrichment offer.