SF School Facts UK

All-through school in St Albans, Hertfordshire

Samuel Ryder Academy

Drakes Drive, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 5AR

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Full
School website 01727859382

Ofsted

Goodas at 29 June 2022

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 29 June 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 4 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

56.5 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

70% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

82% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

40% 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

0.35confidence interval 0.15 to 0.55

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.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
B-
Average points per entry
35.4

England average 32.3

A level students
71

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1577
Places
1520
How full
Full — 1577 pupils against 1520 places
Girls / boys
726 / 851
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
21%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
19%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
15%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
58%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
160

After sixth form

Went to university
66%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
73

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

13% 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
47%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
45

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 016C, 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
40%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
58%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
34%

England 17%

Households with no car
19%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
35%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
All-through
Ages
Ages 4–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
SCHOLARS' EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Matthew Gauthier
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Cunningham
Constituency
St Albans
URN
138582

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest all-through schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Nicholas Breakspear Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 56.4 1.1 mi
Verulam SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 52.5 1.2 mi
St Albans Independent CollegeOther independent school No grade 1.2 mi
Beaumont SchoolAcademy converter No grade 62.6 1.2 mi
Loreto CollegeAcademy converter No grade 58.3 1.3 mi
St Albans High School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 1.6 mi
The Marlborough Science AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 43.4 1.6 mi
St Albans SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.7 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded all-through 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
Holy Cross Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 55
Penair SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 49.1
Humberston AcademyAcademy converter No grade 47.6
Thurstable SchoolAcademy converter No grade 41.9
St Thomas More High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 52.3
Outwood Academy ValleyAcademy sponsor led Good 2024 50.4
Lord Williams's SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 46.2
Joyce Frankland Academy, NewportAcademy converter Good 2023 44.9

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.