SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire

St Mary's Catholic School

Windhill, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 2NQ

Sixth form Roman Catholic Full
School website 01279654901

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 8 October 2024.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

57.6 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

66% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

89% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

68% 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 better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.43confidence interval 0.22 to 0.63

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
C
Average points per entry
29.3

England average 32.3

A level students
86

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1106
Places
1029
How full
Full — 1106 pupils against 1029 places
Girls / boys
548 / 558
Overall absence
6%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
15%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
10%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
25%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
8%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
97%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
95%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
66%
No sustained destination
2%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
183

After sixth form

Went to university
62%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
5%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
99

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

16% 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
56%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
101

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 003B, 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
49%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
8%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
74%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
8%

England 17%

Households with no car
7%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
29%

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
ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI CATHOLIC ACADEMY TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Deirdre McHugh
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Bishop's Stortford Thorley Manor
Constituency
Hertford and Stortford
URN
148499

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Bishop's Stortford CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.3 mi
Hockerill Anglo-European CollegeAcademy converter Good 2022 61.7 0.7 mi
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science CollegeAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.6 0.8 mi
Avanti Grange Secondary SchoolFree schools No grade 1 mi
Birchwood High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.1 1.2 mi
The Bishop's Stortford High SchoolFoundation school Outstanding 2023 60.2 1.4 mi
Forest Hall SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 40.6 2.8 mi
LeventhorpeAcademy converter Good 2024 49.6 3.4 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
Wycombe High SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 73.9
Hinchley Wood SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 64.5
JCoSSVoluntary aided school Good 2022 60.9
Torquay Girls' Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 68.6
Plymouth High School for GirlsAcademy converter Good 2024 65.5
The Piggott SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 61.9
St Peter's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 63.6
Maidstone Grammar SchoolFoundation school No grade 68.4

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.