SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in St Albans, Hertfordshire

Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School

Colney Heath Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL4 0TT

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Sixth form Roman Catholic Full
School website 01727860079

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 14 November 2023

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 14 November 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

56.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

65% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

83% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

81% 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 second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.75confidence interval 0.53 to 0.96

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
35.8

England average 32.3

A level students
77

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1134
Places
1056
How full
Full — 1134 pupils against 1056 places
Girls / boys
445 / 689
Overall absence
5%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
10%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
12%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
32%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
97%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
94%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
65%
No sustained destination
1%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
179

After sixth form

Went to university
63%

England 50%

In education, work or training
80%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
60

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

21% 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
67%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
39

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 St Albans 021D, 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
53%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
9%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
82%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
5%

England 17%

Households with no car
7%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
34%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE DIOCESE OF WESTMINSTER ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Anne Atkinson
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Hill End
Constituency
St Albans
URN
137938

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Beaumont SchoolAcademy converter No grade 62.6 0.7 mi
Samuel Ryder AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 56.5 1.1 mi
Verulam SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 52.5 1.3 mi
Loreto CollegeAcademy converter No grade 58.3 1.8 mi
Sandringham SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 65.1 1.8 mi
St Albans Independent CollegeOther independent school No grade 1.9 mi
St Albans High School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 2 mi
St Albans Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.8 2.4 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
Dronfield Henry Fanshawe SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2023 50
St Edward's Roman Catholic/Church of England School, PooleVoluntary aided school Good 2022 46.4
Kingsmead AcademyAcademy converter No grade 43.8
Moulsham High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.3
Faringdon Community CollegeAcademy converter Good 2024 43.7
St Simon Stock Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.6
Dowdales SchoolCommunity school No grade 41.8
The Woodroffe SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 51.4

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.