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Rutlish School

Comprehensive

National rank

275=

349

Rank last year

58^%

A-level

41^%

GCSE

Need to know

Head teacher Laura Howarth

Attendance 94.4%

Gender of entry Boys

Send pupils* 19.7% *Special educational needs and disabilities

Total pupils 1,491

Pupils on free school meals 24.5%

Progress 8

Progress 8 is a measure of the development a school cohort/pupils makes from year 6 to year 11. The data used is from 2024. There will be no KS2 updates for 2025 or 2026 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is consulting on an improved version of Progress 8 and Attainment 8

WELL ABOVE AVERAGE

Our methodology

Results

Grade

A*/A

A*-B

Grade

9/8/7

What the school inspection says

“Leaders have created a welcoming and aspirational culture. The focus on both academic rigour and personal development enables pupils to excel. The school has extremely high expectations for pupils. This ensures all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (Send), receive an exceptional education and achieve very highly. Behaviour in the school is exemplary ... The school’s curricular thinking is highly developed and ambitious ... Students in the sixth form achieve exceptionally well ... students studying vocational qualifications ... are now producing work of a similar exemplary standard to students studying A-level qualifications.”

Inspection

2024

In detail *

Read the full report

*Ofsted no longer makes an overall effectiveness judgment in inspections of state-funded schools. A five-point grading scale, including a new “exceptional” grade was introduced in November 2025.

About the school

Rutlish School is a state comprehensive school for boys located in Merton Park, southwest London.
The school is named after William Rutlish, the royal embroiderer to Charles II. Upon his death in 1687, he left £400 — equivalent to roughly £84,000 today — to fund the education of poor children in the parish, forming the foundation of the school’s endowment.
Today Rutlish is one of the highest-performing non-selective boys’ state schools in England, known for a vibrant school community.
Students benefit from a spacious 20-acre campus, providing superb facilities for sport, outdoor learning and recreation. The school shares strong links with the All England Tennis Club, for which it provides ball boys and girls during Wimbledon.
The school’s alumni include the former prime minister Sir John Major and Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon.

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administration@rutlish.merton.sch.uk

Telephone

020 8542 1212

Website

rutlish.merton.sch.uk

Address

Manor House, Watery Lane, Merton, London, SW20 9AD

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