SF School Facts UK

Boys secondary school in Watford, Hertfordshire

Watford Grammar School for Boys

Rickmansworth Road, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD18 7JF

Sixth form Church of England Boys Full
School website 01923208900

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 14 April 2026.

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

68.9 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

83% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

91% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

6.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

96% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 5% 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

0.72confidence interval 0.53 to 0.91

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
39.6

England average 32.3

A level students
245

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1590
Places
1496
How full
Full — 1590 pupils against 1496 places
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
21%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
7%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
22%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
7%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
99%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
97%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
84%
No sustained destination
1%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
227

After sixth form

Went to university
77%

England 50%

In education, work or training
89%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
218

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

56% 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
89%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
196

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 Watford 008A, 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
53%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
10%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
55%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
11%

England 17%

Households with no car
16%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
30%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
Church of England
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
WATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR BOYS
Headteacher
Headmaster: Ian Cooksey
Local authority
Hertfordshire
Ward
Park
Constituency
Watford
URN
136276

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Westfield AcademyAcademy converter No grade 41.4 0.5 mi
Watford Grammar School for GirlsAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 68.2 0.7 mi
Croxley Danes SchoolFree schools No grade 51.3 0.8 mi
Merchant Taylors' SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.5 mi
Rickmansworth SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 61.2 1.9 mi
Queens' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.5 2 mi
The Grange AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 41.3 2 mi
Stanborough Secondary SchoolOther independent school No grade 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
Testbourne Community SchoolFoundation school Good 2023 53.3
Chatham & Clarendon Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 64
Newlands Girls' SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 55.6
Woodford County High SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 80.1
Spalding High SchoolCommunity school Outstanding 2023 63
Wallington High School for GirlsAcademy converter No grade 80.5
Queens' SchoolAcademy converter No grade 57.5
Braunton AcademyAcademy converter No grade 53.7

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.