SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Harpenden, Hertfordshire

Sir John Lawes School

Manland Way, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 4QP

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01582760043

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 28 March 2023

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 28 March 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 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

62.8 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

76% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

87% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.7 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

52% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 10% 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 top quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.79confidence interval 0.58 to 0.99

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
42.4

England average 32.3

A level students
156

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1373
Places
1200
How full
Full — 1373 pupils against 1200 places
Girls / boys
639 / 734
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
7%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
9%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
12%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
13%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
97%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
96%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
78%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
200

After sixth form

Went to university
71%

England 50%

In education, work or training
91%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
173

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

40% 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
83%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
167

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 002E, 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
66%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
6%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
78%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
7%

England 17%

Households with no car
11%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
38%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
SCHOLARS' EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Philip Newbery
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Harpenden East
Constituency
Harpenden and Berkhamsted
URN
137270

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
St George's SchoolAcademy converter No grade 63.7 0.3 mi
Katherine Warington SchoolFree schools Good 2024 54.8 0.6 mi
The King's SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Roundwood Park SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 59.5 1.2 mi
Townsend Church of England SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2024 46.7 3.4 mi
St Albans Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.8 3.7 mi
Sandringham SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 65.1 3.9 mi
Chiltern AcademyFree schools Good 2023 49.5 4.2 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
Upper Wharfedale SchoolCommunity school No grade 48.3
St Bartholomew's SchoolAcademy converter No grade 56.2
Saint Joan of Arc Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 50.6
Brentwood Ursuline Convent High SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 61
Balcarras SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.5
Newstead Wood SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 82.8
Sir Henry Floyd Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 73.2
Aylesbury High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 74.3

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.