Secondary school in Harpenden, Hertfordshire
Katherine Warington School
Lower Luton Road, Harpenden, AL5 5FH
Ofsted
Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 28 February 2024.
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.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
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 second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top quarter.
Progress 8 2023/24
Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as 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.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 1113
- Girls / boys
- 500 / 613
- Overall absence
- 7%
- Persistently absent
- 16%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 17%
- English as an additional language
- 7%
- With an EHC plan
- 5%
- On SEN support
- 14%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for St Albans 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
- 36%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 17%
- Households owning their home
- 49%
- Households in social housing
- 40%
- Households with no car
- 18%
- Adults economically inactive
- 36%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- HARPENDEN SECONDARY EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: David Martin
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward
- Harpenden East
- Constituency
- Harpenden and Berkhamsted
- URN
- 145890
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir John Lawes SchoolAcademy converter | Outstanding 2023 | 62.8 | 0.6 mi |
| St George's SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 63.7 | 0.9 mi |
| The King's SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.4 mi |
| Roundwood Park SchoolAcademy converter | Outstanding 2023 | 59.5 | 1.7 mi |
| Townsend Church of England SchoolVoluntary aided school | Good 2024 | 46.7 | 3.4 mi |
| St Albans Girls' SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 58.8 | 3.6 mi |
| Sandringham SchoolAcademy converter | Outstanding 2024 | 65.1 | 3.7 mi |
| Chiltern AcademyFree schools | Good 2023 | 49.5 | 4.5 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.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| George Stephenson High SchoolFoundation school | No grade | 48 |
| West Hatch High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 49.5 |
| Alderbrook SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 54.2 |
| Caldew SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 44.3 |
| Sheringham High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 47.1 |
| Sanders DraperAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 44.4 |
| Honley High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 50.6 |
| Bishop Ullathorne Catholic SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2024 | 52.9 |
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.