Fearnhill School
Icknield Way West, Letchworth, SG6 4BA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Foundation school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- Letchworth Garden City Education Partnership
- Headteacher
- Mr Tim Spencer
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- North East Hertfordshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,055
- Pupils on roll
- 597
- URN
- 117504
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01462621200
About this school
Fearnhill School is a foundation secondary school in Letchworth. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 597 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Fearnhill School, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 77 | 106 | 105 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.3 | 41.2 | 38.9 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.27 -0.05 to +0.59 | -0.14 -0.41 to +0.13 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 30% | 34% | 26.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 64% | 53.8% | 53.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 22% | 44.3% | 39% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
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 Fearnhill 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 | 43.3 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 41.2 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.9 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 570 |
| 2023/24 | 596 |
| 2024/25 | 601 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Fearnhill School compares
Fearnhill School ranked 72nd of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38.9 | 10.9% | 39.3% | 597 | — |
| The Highfield School | 41.7 | 10% | 27.8% | 937 | 0.6 miles |
| The Priory School | 48.5 | 8.7% | 24.2% | 1,221 | 1.8 miles |
| Hitchin Girls' School | 57.8 | 7.2% | 8.4% | 1,357 | 2.2 miles |
| Hitchin Boys' School | 57.1 | 4.4% | 7.9% | 1,364 | 2.2 miles |
| The Knights Templar School | 48.5 | 6.5% | 20.7% | 1,375 | 2.5 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report21 April 2026
- 13 September 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 39.3%
- English as an additional language
- 10.5%
- Overall absence
- 10.91%
- Persistent absence
- 31%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Highfield School0.6 miles
Secondary · Letchworth Garden City
-
The Priory School1.8 miles
Secondary · Hitchin
-
Hitchin Girls' School2.2 miles
Secondary · Hitchin
-
Hitchin Boys' School2.2 miles
Secondary · Hitchin
-
The Knights Templar School2.5 miles
Secondary · Baldock
Other schools in Letchworth
- Hillshott Infant School and Nursery Primary
- Pixmore Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Fearnhill School teach?
- Fearnhill School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Letchworth.
- Who is the headteacher of Fearnhill School?
- The headteacher of Fearnhill School is Mr Tim Spencer, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Fearnhill School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Fearnhill 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 many pupils are at Fearnhill School?
- Fearnhill School has 597 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Fearnhill School full?
- Fearnhill School has capacity for 1,055 pupils and 597 on roll (57%), 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 Fearnhill School a faith school?
- No. Fearnhill School has no designated religious character.
- Is Fearnhill School a selective school?
- No. Fearnhill School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Fearnhill School part of an academy trust?
- Fearnhill School is part of Letchworth Garden City Education Partnership. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Fearnhill School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.3 in 2022/23 and 38.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Fearnhill School compare with other schools in Hertfordshire?
- Fearnhill School ranked 72nd of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 35% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Fearnhill School's absence rate?
- Fearnhill School's overall absence rate is 10.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Fearnhill School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Fearnhill 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 15 July 2026.