St Albans Girls' School
Sandridgebury Lane, St Albans, AL3 6DB
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Girls
- Trust
- AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Paul Kershaw
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Ambition Education Trust
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,450
- Pupils on roll
- 1,423
- URN
- 137339
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727853134
About this school
St Albans Girls' School is a girls' secondary academy in St Albans. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,423 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
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Sixth form
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 207 | 232 | 234 |
| Attainment 8 score | 60.8 | 56.6 | 58.8 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.85 +0.65 to +1.05 | +0.55 +0.37 to +0.74 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 68% | 61.2% | 69.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 84% | 79.3% | 86.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 73% | 68.1% | 74.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 5.7 | 5.2 | 5.6 |
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 St Albans Girls' 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 | 60.8 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 56.6 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 58.8 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,419 |
| 2023/24 | 1,439 |
| 2024/25 | 1,428 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Albans Girls' School compares
St Albans Girls' School ranked 17th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 92% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58.8 | 7.4% | 11.9% | 1,423 | — |
| Townsend Church of England School | 46.7 | 11.5% | 24.6% | 746 | 0.5 miles |
| Sandringham School | 65.1 | 5.1% | 8.4% | 1,777 | 1.0 miles |
| Loreto College | 58.3 | 8% | 15% | 952 | 1.2 miles |
| Verulam School | 52.5 | 7.4% | 15.1% | 987 | 1.2 miles |
| Beaumont School | 62.6 | 5.2% | 5.3% | 1,722 | 1.7 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)
- 11.86%
- English as an additional language
- 21.9%
- Overall absence
- 7.4%
- Persistent absence
- 17.59%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Townsend Church of England School0.5 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Sandringham School1.0 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Loreto College1.2 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Verulam School1.2 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Beaumont School1.7 miles
Secondary · St Albans
Other schools in St Albans
St Albans Girls' School ranks 3rd of the 9 ranked secondary schools in St Albans.
- Beaumont School Secondary
- Loreto College Secondary
- Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School Secondary
- Sandringham School Secondary
- The Marlborough Science Academy Secondary
- Townsend Church of England School Secondary
- Verulam School Secondary
- Muriel Green Nursery School Nursery
- Aboyne Lodge Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Alban City School Primary
- Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Bernards Heath Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does St Albans Girls' School teach?
- St Albans Girls' School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in St Albans.
- Who is the headteacher of St Albans Girls' School?
- The headteacher of St Albans Girls' School is Mr Paul Kershaw, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was St Albans Girls' School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Albans Girls' 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 St Albans Girls' School?
- St Albans Girls' School has 1,423 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is St Albans Girls' School full?
- St Albans Girls' School has capacity for 1,450 pupils and 1,423 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St Albans Girls' School a faith school?
- No. St Albans Girls' School has no designated religious character.
- Is St Albans Girls' School a selective school?
- No. St Albans Girls' School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs St Albans Girls' School?
- St Albans Girls' School is part of AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have St Albans Girls' School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 60.8 in 2022/23 and 58.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Albans Girls' School rank locally?
- St Albans Girls' School ranked 17th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 92% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Albans Girls' School's absence rate?
- St Albans Girls' School's overall absence rate is 7.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Albans Girls' School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Albans Girls' 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 1 July 2026.