The Astley Cooper School
St Agnell's Lane, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7HL
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Sam Orsborne
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Hemel Hempstead
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,055
- Pupils on roll
- 914
- URN
- 117552
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01442394141
About this school
The Astley Cooper School is a community secondary school in Hemel Hempstead. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 914 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Needs attention
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- 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 | 135 | 168 | 161 |
| Attainment 8 score | 35.7 | 37.2 | 34.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.82 -1.07 to -0.57 | -0.60 -0.82 to -0.38 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 25% | 33.3% | 26.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 46% | 48.8% | 44.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 6% | 17.9% | 11.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.9 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
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 Astley Cooper 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 | 35.7 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.2 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 34.7 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 13.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 913 |
| 2023/24 | 965 |
| 2024/25 | 947 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Astley Cooper School compares
The Astley Cooper School ranked 78th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 26% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 34.7 | 13.7% | 36.8% | 914 | — |
| The Adeyfield Academy | 35.1 | 10.3% | 34.2% | 858 | 1.6 miles |
| Laureate Academy | 41.7 | 13.8% | 38% | 703 | 2.0 miles |
| The Hemel Hempstead School | 49.9 | 7.5% | 18.3% | 1,287 | 2.3 miles |
| Longdean School | 42.4 | 9.7% | 27.9% | 1,436 | 2.3 miles |
| John F Kennedy Catholic School | 47.9 | 7.1% | 15.1% | 1,073 | 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 report28 April 2026
- 17 November 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 36.77%
- English as an additional language
- 17.6%
- Overall absence
- 13.65%
- Persistent absence
- 39.21%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Adeyfield Academy1.6 miles
Secondary · Hemel Hempstead
-
Laureate Academy2.0 miles
Secondary · Hemel Hempstead
-
The Hemel Hempstead School2.3 miles
Secondary · Hemel Hempstead
-
Longdean School2.3 miles
Secondary · Hemel Hempstead
-
John F Kennedy Catholic School2.5 miles
Secondary · Hemel Hempstead
Other schools in Hemel Hempstead
The Astley Cooper School ranks 6th of the 6 ranked secondary schools in Hemel Hempstead.
- John F Kennedy Catholic School Secondary
- Laureate Academy Secondary
- Longdean School Secondary
- The Adeyfield Academy Secondary
- The Hemel Hempstead School Secondary
- Heath Lane Nursery School Nursery
- Aycliffe Drive Primary School Primary
- Belswains Primary School Primary
- Bovingdon Primary Academy Primary
- Boxmoor Primary School Primary
- Broadfield Academy Primary
- Brockswood Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Astley Cooper School teach?
- The Astley Cooper School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Hemel Hempstead.
- Who is the headteacher of The Astley Cooper School?
- The headteacher of The Astley Cooper School is Mr Sam Orsborne, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Astley Cooper School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Astley Cooper 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 Astley Cooper School?
- The Astley Cooper School has 914 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The Astley Cooper School full?
- The Astley Cooper School has capacity for 1,055 pupils and 914 on roll (87%), 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 Astley Cooper School a faith school?
- No. The Astley Cooper School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Astley Cooper School a selective school?
- No. The Astley Cooper School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have The Astley Cooper School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 35.7 in 2022/23 and 34.7 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 Astley Cooper School rank locally?
- The Astley Cooper School ranked 78th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 26% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 2% 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 Astley Cooper School's absence rate?
- The Astley Cooper School's overall absence rate is 13.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Astley Cooper School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Astley Cooper 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.