SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire

St Mary's Church of England High School (VA)

Lieutenant Ellis Way, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, EN7 5FB

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Church of England
School website 01992629124

Ofsted

Goodas at 10 October 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 10 October 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

45 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

41% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

65% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

51% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is around the middle of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.07confidence interval -0.26 to 0.12

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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
25.3

England average 32.3

A level students
62

Pupils

Pupils on roll
911
Places
1400
How full
65% full — 911 of 1400 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
484 / 427
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
25%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
38%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
31%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
14%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
91%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
89%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
43%
No sustained destination
7%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
180

After sixth form

Went to university
53%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
9%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
86

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

11% 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
72%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
79

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 Broxbourne 011A, 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
24%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
23%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
79%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
11%

England 17%

Households with no car
10%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
37%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
ST MARY'S CE ACADEMY, CHESHUNT
Headteacher
Headteacher: Richard Vaughan
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Rosedale and Bury Green
Constituency
Broxbourne
URN
138360

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Goffs - Churchgate AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 42.6 0.6 mi
Goffs AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 49.1 0.7 mi
The Lea Valley AcademyAcademy converter Good 2022 33.3 1.2 mi
St Ignatius CollegeVoluntary aided school No grade 54.8 1.6 mi
Haileybury TurnfordAcademy sponsor led No grade 43.3 1.7 mi
Oasis Academy EnfieldAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.4 2.1 mi
Freshsteps Independent schoolOther independent school No grade 2.1 mi
Ark John Keats AcademyFree schools Good 2023 50.1 2.2 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
George Eliot AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 45.8
Lodge Park AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 33.5
The Royal School, WolverhamptonFree schools No grade 43.3
Winterton Community AcademyAcademy converter No grade 45.3
UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy ParkUniversity technical college No grade 44
Beechwood SchoolAcademy converter No grade 36
Maiden Erlegh Chiltern EdgeAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 44.3
Oulton AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2024 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.