The Priory School
Bedford Road, Hitchin, SG5 2UR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Matt Blayney
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability, SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Hitchin
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,300
- Pupils on roll
- 1,221
- URN
- 117499
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01462622300
About this school
The Priory School is a foundation secondary school in Hitchin. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,221 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 5 October 2022, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 205 | 193 | 195 |
| Attainment 8 score | 48.1 | 46.5 | 48.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.07 -0.27 to +0.13 | -0.05 -0.25 to +0.15 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 44% | 43.5% | 49.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 67.9% | 64.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 35% | 33.7% | 32.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Priory School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Hertfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 48.1 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 46.5 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 48.5 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,243 |
| 2023/24 | 1,231 |
| 2024/25 | 1,242 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Priory School compares
The Priory School ranked 46th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 71% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48.5 | 8.7% | 24.2% | 1,221 | — |
| Hitchin Boys' School | 57.1 | 4.4% | 7.9% | 1,364 | 0.8 miles |
| Hitchin Girls' School | 57.8 | 7.2% | 8.4% | 1,357 | 1.2 miles |
| Fearnhill School | 38.9 | 10.9% | 39.3% | 597 | 1.8 miles |
| The Highfield School | 41.7 | 10% | 27.8% | 937 | 1.8 miles |
| The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School | 57.9 | 5.5% | 10.3% | 1,620 | 4.2 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 24.16%
- English as an additional language
- 6.7%
- Overall absence
- 8.69%
- Persistent absence
- 19.38%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Hitchin Boys' School0.8 miles
Secondary · Hitchin
-
Hitchin Girls' School1.2 miles
Secondary · Hitchin
-
Fearnhill School1.8 miles
Secondary · Letchworth
-
The Highfield School1.8 miles
Secondary · Letchworth Garden City
-
The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School4.2 miles
Secondary · Stevenage
Other schools in Hitchin
- Hitchin Boys' School Secondary
- Hitchin Girls' School Secondary
- York Road Nursery School Nursery
- Breachwood Green Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Codicote Church of England Primary School Primary
- Graveley Primary School Primary
- Highbury Infant School and Nursery Primary
- Highover Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Ickleford Primary School Primary
- Kimpton Primary School Primary
- Mary Exton Primary School Primary
- Offley Endowed Primary School and Nursery Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Priory School teach?
- The Priory School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Hitchin.
- Who is the headteacher of The Priory School?
- The headteacher of The Priory School is Mr Matt Blayney, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Priory School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Priory School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Priory School?
- The Priory School has 1,221 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Priory School full?
- The Priory School has capacity for 1,300 pupils and 1,221 on roll (94%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Priory School a faith school?
- No. The Priory School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Priory School a selective school?
- No. The Priory School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- What SEN provision does The Priory School have?
- The schools register lists The Priory School's special educational needs provision as: OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability; SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Priory School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 48.1 in 2022/23 and 48.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Priory School rank locally?
- The Priory School ranked 46th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 71% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Priory School's absence rate?
- The Priory School's overall absence rate is 8.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Priory School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Priory School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.