SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire

Dame Alice Owen's School

Dugdale Hill Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 2DU

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01707643441

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 5 December 2023

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 5 December 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 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

72.9 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

88% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

95% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

74% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 5% of state-funded secondaries in England.

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

Progress 8 2023/24

0.92confidence interval 0.72 to 1.13

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above 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
A-
Average points per entry
48.1

England average 32.3

A level students
222

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1467
Places
1416
How full
Full — 1467 pupils against 1416 places
Girls / boys
748 / 719
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
7%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
5%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
98%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
97%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
83%
No sustained destination
1%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
195

After sixth form

Went to university
78%

England 50%

In education, work or training
93%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
209

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

76% 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
93%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
212

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 Hertsmere 002C, 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
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
69%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
16%

England 17%

Households with no car
12%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
37%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
DAME ALICE OWEN'S SCHOOL
Headteacher
Head: Hannah Nemko
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Bentley Heath & The Royds
Constituency
Hertsmere
URN
136554

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Gracewood AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2022 1.3 mi
Mount House SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.1 mi
St John's Preparatory and Senior SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.1 mi
Queenswood SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.4 mi
Queen Elizabeth's School, BarnetAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 85.6 2.4 mi
Chancellor's SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 47.6 2.7 mi
Queen Elizabeth's Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.6 2.7 mi
JCoSSVoluntary aided school Good 2022 60.9 2.9 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
Ribston Hall High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 67.7
The Misbourne SchoolAcademy converter No grade 50.8
Westcliff High School for Boys AcademyAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 77.6
Southend High School for BoysAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 73.8
Skipton Girls' High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 69.7
Carre's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 58
St Bede's Catholic CollegeAcademy converter No grade 57.1
The Skinners' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70.8

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.