SF School Facts UK

Boys secondary school in Hitchin, Hertfordshire

Hitchin Boys' School

Grammar School Walk, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1JB

Sixth form Boys
School website 01462432181

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 25 November 2025.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

57.1 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

67% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

87% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.5 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

83% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter 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 better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.57confidence interval 0.38 to 0.77

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
B-
Average points per entry
37.3

England average 32.3

A level students
139

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1364
Places
1400
How full
Nearly full — 1364 of 1400 places taken
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
9%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
8%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
10%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
17%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
98%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
95%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
69%
No sustained destination
1%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
208

After sixth form

Went to university
62%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
129

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

29% 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
132

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 North Hertfordshire 012F, 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
49%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
13%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
57%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
11%

England 17%

Households with no car
30%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
38%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
HITCHIN BOYS' SCHOOL
Headteacher
Headteacher: Timothy Bennett
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Hitchin Priory
Constituency
Hitchin
URN
139154

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Hitchin Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.8 0.4 mi
The Priory SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 48.5 0.8 mi
Kingshott SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.2 mi
The Highfield SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 41.7 2 mi
Fearnhill SchoolFoundation school No grade 38.9 2.2 mi
St Francis CollegeOther independent school No grade 2.5 mi
St Christopher SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.5 mi
The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 57.9 3.5 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
Queen Elizabeth SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 59.6
Dartford Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 79.9
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 65.1
Beaumont SchoolAcademy converter No grade 62.6
St John Fisher Catholic AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 55.1
The Tiffin Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 85.3
Rosebery SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.5
Torquay Boys' Grammar 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.