SF School Facts UK

Boys secondary school in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire

The Bishop's Stortford High School

Beaumont Avenue, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, CM23 4SH

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Sixth form Boys Full
School website 01279868686
Ofsted Outstanding May 2023
Attainment 8 60.2 in the top 10% nationally
Chance of a place 58% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 10/10 less deprived

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 25 May 2023

Remained Outstanding at its last ungraded inspection, on 25 May 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

Current published outcome
Outstanding
Last overall grade in this dataset
Outstanding
Days since inspection
1,226 days
Framework era
Historic overall-grade framework (ended September 2024)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

60.2 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

69% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

87% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

82% 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

0.23confidence interval 0.01 to 0.45

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
35.7

England average 32.3

A level students
198

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

Oversubscribed. Of the 277 families who named this school as their first choice, 58% were offered a place.

Places offered
172

for entry into Year 7

Named it first choice
277
First choices per place
1.61

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
58%

England 88.5%

First preferences per place are up 50% on three years ago.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1279
Places
1211
How full
Full — 1279 pupils against 1211 places
Girls / boys
135 / 1144
Overall absence
5%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
13%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
6%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
8%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
1%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
8%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
0

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
3

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
1
Busiest road nearby
A1184

8,715 vehicles a day (2025)

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
9

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Bishop's Stortford Rail Station

2 km away — railway station

Traffic volume is the context the collision count needs: a school beside a major road will record more collisions than one on a quiet street without being any less well run.

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
99%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
95%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
77%
No sustained destination
0%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
168

After sixth form

Went to university
59%

England 50%

In education, work or training
93%

England 84.4%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
148

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

38% 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
75%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
192

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 area around the school

10/10 Deprivation decile

Among the least deprived fifth of England.

8/10 Child poverty decile

Among the less deprived half of England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£482,500

postcode sector CM23 4 · 448 sales

Typical range
£385,000 to £607,500

middle half of sales

Detached
£600,000
Semi-detached
£449,000
Terraced
£349,950
Flat
£247,500

Homes around this school are among the dearest tenth of England.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
40%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
11%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
20%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
9%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
57%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
91%

England 62.7%

Social housing
0%

England 17%

Privately rented
9%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
46%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
47%

England 22.5%

No car
4%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for East Hertfordshire 008E and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Foundation school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Dale Reeve
Register status
Open
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Bishop's Stortford South
Constituency
Hertford and Stortford
URN
117577

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Year 7

1.80 2014/15: 1.05 first choices per place2015/16: 0.99 first choices per place2016/17: 1.25 first choices per place2017/18: 1.24 first choices per place2018/19: 1.29 first choices per place2019/20: 1.25 first choices per place2020/21: 1.34 first choices per place2021/22: 1.32 first choices per place2022/23: 1.09 first choices per place2023/24: 1.07 first choices per place2024/25: 1.20 first choices per place2025/26: 1.41 first choices per place2026/27: 1.61 first choices per place2014201620182020202220242026
All 13 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2014/15 155 163 1.05 73%
2015/16 177 175 0.99 75%
2016/17 167 208 1.25 66%
2017/18 168 209 1.24 72%
2018/19 167 215 1.29 67%
2019/20 167 208 1.25 67%
2020/21 167 223 1.34 65%
2021/22 168 221 1.32 63%
2022/23 179 196 1.09 79%
2023/24 178 191 1.07 81%
2024/25 180 216 1.20 72%
2025/26 174 246 1.41 62%
2026/27 172 277 1.61 58%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8DistanceCompare
St Mary's Catholic SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade 57.6 0.430.22 to 0.63 1.4 mi
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science CollegeAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.6 0.650.43 to 0.86 1.5 mi
Bishop's Stortford CollegeOther independent school No overall grade — — 1.6 mi
Hockerill Anglo-European CollegeAcademy converter Good 2022 61.7 0.380.10 to 0.66 1.7 mi
LeventhorpeAcademy converter Good 2024 49.6 0.05-0.13 to 0.23 · not a win 2 mi
Birchwood High SchoolAcademy converter No overall grade 46.1 -0.08-0.27 to 0.11 · not a win 2.1 mi
Avanti Grange Secondary SchoolFree schools No overall grade — — 2.4 mi
Forest Hall SchoolAcademy sponsor led Report card 2026 40.6 0.27-0.01 to 0.55 · not a win 3.8 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 60.2
Median of its 12 closest peers 63.5
Hertfordshire average 45.2
England average 47

Attainment 8 score. This school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8Compare
Balcarras SchoolAcademy converter Cheltenham No overall grade 58.5 0.830.63 to 1.03
Thornden SchoolAcademy converter Eastleigh Report card 2026 59.9 0.740.57 to 0.91
Ranelagh SchoolAcademy converter Bracknell No overall grade 53.4 0.590.37 to 0.80
Calday Grange Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Wirral No overall grade 68.1 0.310.12 to 0.50
Simon Langton Girls' Grammar SchoolVoluntary controlled school Canterbury Good 2023 67.7 0.430.20 to 0.66
Edgbarrow SchoolAcademy converter Crowthorne Outstanding 2022 54.1 0.340.16 to 0.53
Howard of Effingham SchoolAcademy converter Leatherhead No overall grade 57.1 0.240.05 to 0.42
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science CollegeAcademy converter Bishop's Stortford Outstanding 2023 63.6 0.650.43 to 0.86
Backwell SchoolAcademy converter Bristol No overall grade 52.7 0.210.04 to 0.38
Sir William Borlase's Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Marlow Outstanding 2024 72.4 0.560.30 to 0.81
Colchester Royal Grammar SchoolAcademy converter Colchester Report card 2026 82.1 1.090.82 to 1.37
Rosebery SchoolAcademy converter Epsom Outstanding 2023 63.5 0.790.61 to 0.98

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 117577; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 25 May 2023
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
Progress 8DfE performance tables2023/24Exact URN; confidence interval retained
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

Which exact school is this?

Match the DfE URN, school name and address; names and structures can change while the URN remains the stable identifier.

What does the latest inspection evidence say?

Use the inspection date and framework shown. Do not compare a legacy overall grade directly with the newer report-card judgements.

How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

What must a parent verify?

Check current admissions rules, travel practicality, support for the child’s needs and the school’s latest official information before deciding.