Westminster City School, London

Ofsted's report card from its 19 May 2026 inspection grades Westminster City School on 7 areas: 4 strong standard and 3 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "Pupils achieve highly across the school."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Pupils attend school regularly."

Leadership and governance - Strong standard. "Leaders provide clear direction for the school."

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "Students in the sixth form achieve highly and benefit from a curriculum that is consistently well taught."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum that supports pupils to build a secure body of knowledge over time."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders have strengthened how they identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Pupils take part in a well considered personal development programme."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should continue their work to further develop the expertise of staff in making sure that the teaching of the curriculum is appropriately adapted to the needs of all pupils"; "Leaders should further develop a coherently designed range of wider opportunities and track the uptake of these carefully to ensure that these consistently benefit all groups of pupils".

From the headteacher's welcome: "It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Westminster City School. We are a comprehensive school for boys, with a mixed sixth form, in central London, close to Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Our founders adopted the motto Unitate Fortior - Strength in Unity."

In 2026, pupils at Westminster City School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 48.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 52.8 in Westminster and 47 across England.

50% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 59% in Westminster and 47% in England.

That is down from 52.1 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.09: pupils made about average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 44.3, against 53.7 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 9.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 20 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Geography and Combined Science.

For September 2026 entry, 56 families put Westminster City School as their first choice and 252 named it as one of their preferences, for 106 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 1 family who put it first was not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Westminster City School are The Grey Coat Hospital (0.2 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 62.9); Pimlico Academy (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 55.9); Academy21 (0.8 miles); and St. Thomas More Language College (1.1 miles, Attainment 8 45.3).

Westminster City School's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 3 schools.

Of the 114 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 93% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 26% to a further education college.

Of the 133 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 73% went on to university or other higher education, 1% to apprenticeships and 7% into work. 34% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

40.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 35.1% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Black (47%), Asian (12%) and other ethnic groups (10%).

In 2026, 88 pupils (11.1%) received SEN support and 5 (0.6%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is speech, language and communication needs.

The nearest tram or metro stop is Victoria Station, about 220 metres away (roughly a 3-minute walk).

28 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Westminster City Hall, 150 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Westminster City School stands in is among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Westminster City School issued 159 suspensions, 19.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The primary schools closest to Westminster City School are St Vincent De Paul Catholic Primary School (0.2 miles); Burdett-Coutts and Townshend Foundation CofE Primary School (0.3 miles); St Matthew's School, Westminster (0.3 miles); and St Peter's Eaton Square CofE Primary School (0.4 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.