SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Barclay Academy

Walkern Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 3RB

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form
School website 01438748459

Ofsted

Goodas at 18 April 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 18 April 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

49.5 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

57% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

74% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

66% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the upper half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the top quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.17confidence interval -0.09 to 0.43

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C+
Average points per entry
34.3

England average 32.3

A level students
55

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1044
Places
1181
How full
88% full — 1044 of 1181 places taken
Girls / boys
546 / 498
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
23%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
26%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
15%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
92%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
91%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
48%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
125

After sixth form

Went to university
31%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
10%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
29

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

8% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
71%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
49

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Stevenage 002B, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
39%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
12%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
73%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
13%

England 17%

Households with no car
15%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
34%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
FUTURE ACADEMIES
Headteacher
Headteacher: Scarlett O'Sullivan
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Old Town
Constituency
Stevenage
URN
144623

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
The Thomas Alleyne AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 48 0.2 mi
The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 57.9 0.5 mi
Marriotts SchoolCommunity school No grade 42.4 1.4 mi
The Nobel SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 50.2 1.5 mi
Barnwell SchoolFoundation school No grade 41.5 2.2 mi
Kingshott SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.8 mi
Hitchin Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.8 3.6 mi
St Christopher SchoolOther independent school No grade 3.8 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Beaminster SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2023 47
The Clere SchoolCommunity school No grade 41.3
Dartmouth AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 45.3
Chadwell Heath AcademyAcademy converter No grade 53.7
FairfaxAcademy converter Good 2024 49.1
Park View SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.4
Daubeney AcademyAcademy converter No grade 38.5
The Cedars AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 45.1

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.