SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in St Albans, Hertfordshire

The Marlborough Science Academy

Watling Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 2QA

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01727856874

Ofsted

Goodas at 29 November 2023

Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 29 November 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

43.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

36% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

60% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

40% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.10confidence interval -0.30 to 0.10

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
28.9

England average 32.3

A level students
107

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1337
Places
1250
How full
Full — 1337 pupils against 1250 places
Girls / boys
624 / 713
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
30%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
22%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
9%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
62%
No sustained destination
5%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
202

After sixth form

Went to university
57%

England 50%

In education, work or training
94%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
81

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

13% 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
63%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
100

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 014C, 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
60%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
8%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
93%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
1%

England 17%

Households with no car
6%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
44%

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
THE MARLBOROUGH SCIENCE ACADEMY LIMITED
Headteacher
Headteacher: Annie Thomson
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Verulam
Constituency
St Albans
URN
138042

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
St Columba's CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.3 mi
St Albans SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
St Albans Independent CollegeOther independent school No grade 1 mi
Loreto CollegeAcademy converter No grade 58.3 1.3 mi
St Albans High School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 1.5 mi
Samuel Ryder AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 56.5 1.6 mi
Verulam SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 52.5 1.8 mi
St Albans Girls' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 58.8 2.3 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
King Edward VI CEVC SchoolVoluntary controlled school No grade 45.4
Ash Manor SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 49.7
Brine Leas SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 49.7
Branston Community AcademyAcademy converter No grade 43.8
William Farr CofE Comprehensive SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 50.8
Lincroft AcademyAcademy converter No grade 45
Corfe Hills SchoolAcademy converter Good 2021 46.7
Ralph Allen SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 54.6

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.