SF School Facts UK

All-through school in Hertford, Hertfordshire

Simon Balle All-Through School

Mangrove Road, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 8AJ

Ofsted Outstanding · 2024 Sixth form Full
School website 01992410400

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 25 April 2024

Remained Outstanding at its last ungraded inspection, on 25 April 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.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

55.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

64% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

84% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

49% 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

0.45confidence interval 0.24 to 0.67

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
38.8

England average 32.3

A level students
89

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1617
Places
1037
How full
Full — 1617 pupils against 1037 places
Girls / boys
809 / 808
Overall absence
5%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
11%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
11%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
7%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
10%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
96%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
94%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
57%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
171

After sixth form

Went to university
46%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
132

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

22% 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
66%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
121

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 East Hertfordshire 017B, 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
50%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
10%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
82%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
5%

England 17%

Households with no car
8%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
All-through
Ages
Ages 4–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
THE LAUREL EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Rachel Kirk and Mike Moss
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Hertford Castle
Constituency
Hertford and Stortford
URN
140294

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest all-through schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Richard Hale SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 56.3 0.4 mi
The Sele SchoolAcademy converter No grade 35.7 1.5 mi
Presdales SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 58.9 1.8 mi
Haileybury CollegeOther independent school No grade 1.8 mi
The Chauncy SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 49.5 1.8 mi
The John Warner SchoolAcademy converter Inadequate 2022 40.8 3.1 mi
Robert Barclay AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 44.2 3.5 mi
The Broxbourne SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 55.4 4.1 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
The Lakes SchoolCommunity school No grade 46.8
Rickmansworth SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 61.2
Sandringham SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 65.1
The Campion SchoolAcademy converter No grade 52.8
Farmor's SchoolAcademy converter No grade 49.1
The Forest SchoolAcademy converter No grade 50.7
Whitley Bay High SchoolFoundation school Outstanding 2024 54.2
Brimsham Green SchoolCommunity school No grade 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.