Bushey Meads School
Coldharbour Lane, Bushey, WD23 4PA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- BUSHEY ST JAMES TRUST
- Executive Principal
- Jeremy Turner
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication
- Constituency
- Hertsmere
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,300
- Pupils on roll
- 1,200
- URN
- 137872
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02089503000
About this school
Bushey Meads School is a secondary academy in Bushey. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,200 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 187 | 184 | 188 |
| Attainment 8 score | 50.8 | 42.1 | 43.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.02 -0.23 to +0.19 | -0.45 -0.66 to -0.24 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 60% | 40.8% | 41% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 76% | 63.6% | 63.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 7% | 6.5% | 11.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
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 Bushey Meads 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 | 50.8 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42.1 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.6 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 13.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 14.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 13.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,226 |
| 2023/24 | 1,213 |
| 2024/25 | 1,236 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bushey Meads School compares
Bushey Meads School ranked 57th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.6 | 13.1% | 23% | 1,200 | — |
| The Grange Academy | 41.3 | 10.2% | 31.6% | 928 | 0.9 miles |
| Queens' School | 57.5 | 5.6% | 11.4% | 1,697 | 1.1 miles |
| Watford Grammar School for Girls | 68.2 | 6.7% | 7.2% | 1,427 | 2.1 miles |
| Bentley Wood High School | 58.5 | 7.3% | 29.8% | 1,393 | 2.3 miles |
| Watford Grammar School for Boys | 68.9 | 7.1% | 7.3% | 1,590 | 2.8 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)
- 23.03%
- English as an additional language
- 18.2%
- Overall absence
- 13.07%
- Persistent absence
- 32.55%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Grange Academy0.9 miles
Secondary · Bushey
-
Queens' School1.1 miles
Secondary · Bushey
-
Watford Grammar School for Girls2.1 miles
Secondary · Watford
-
Bentley Wood High School2.3 miles
Secondary · Stanmore
-
Watford Grammar School for Boys2.8 miles
Secondary · Watford
Other schools in Bushey
- Queens' School Secondary
- The Grange Academy Secondary
- Ashfield Junior School Primary
- Bournehall Primary School Primary
- Bushey and Oxhey Infant School Primary
- Bushey Heath Primary School Primary
- Bushey Manor Junior School Primary
- Hartsbourne Primary School Primary
- Highwood Primary School Primary
- Little Reddings Primary School Primary
- Merry Hill Infant School and Nursery Primary
- Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and Nursery Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Bushey Meads School teach?
- Bushey Meads School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Bushey.
- Who is the executive principal of Bushey Meads School?
- The executive principal of Bushey Meads School is Jeremy Turner, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bushey Meads School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bushey Meads 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 Bushey Meads School?
- Bushey Meads School has 1,200 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Bushey Meads School full?
- Bushey Meads School has capacity for 1,300 pupils and 1,200 on roll (92%), 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 Bushey Meads School a faith school?
- No. Bushey Meads School has no designated religious character.
- Is Bushey Meads School a selective school?
- No. Bushey Meads School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Bushey Meads School?
- Bushey Meads School is part of BUSHEY ST JAMES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Bushey Meads School have?
- The schools register lists Bushey Meads School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Bushey Meads School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 50.8 in 2022/23 and 43.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bushey Meads School rank locally?
- Bushey Meads School ranked 57th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 3% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bushey Meads School's absence rate?
- Bushey Meads School's overall absence rate is 13.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bushey Meads School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bushey Meads 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.