Loreto College
Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 3RQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Girls
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Trust
- LORETO COLLEGE (ST ALBANS)
- Headteacher
- Mrs Lucy Thompson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Westminster
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 927
- Pupils on roll
- 952
- URN
- 138106
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727856206
About this school
Loreto College is a Roman Catholic girls' secondary academy in St Albans. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 952 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Loreto College, and its latest judgement is set out 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 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
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 156 | 159 | 156 |
| Attainment 8 score | 60.0 | 59.4 | 58.3 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.78 +0.55 to +1.01 | +0.71 +0.49 to +0.94 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 68% | 67.3% | 59% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 85% | 85.5% | 82.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 76% | 81.1% | 89.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.5 |
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 Loreto College 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 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 59.4 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 58.3 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 962 |
| 2023/24 | 946 |
| 2024/25 | 930 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Loreto College compares
Loreto College ranked 18th 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 17% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58.3 | 8% | 15% | 952 | — |
| Verulam School | 52.5 | 7.4% | 15.1% | 987 | 0.6 miles |
| St Albans Girls' School | 58.8 | 7.4% | 11.9% | 1,423 | 1.2 miles |
| Beaumont School | 62.6 | 5.2% | 5.3% | 1,722 | 1.3 miles |
| The Marlborough Science Academy | 43.4 | 9.8% | 22.3% | 1,337 | 1.3 miles |
| Sandringham School | 65.1 | 5.1% | 8.4% | 1,777 | 1.5 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 14.95%
- English as an additional language
- 30.2%
- Overall absence
- 7.96%
- Persistent absence
- 31.51%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Verulam School0.6 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
St Albans Girls' School1.2 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Beaumont School1.3 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
The Marlborough Science Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · St Albans
-
Sandringham School1.5 miles
Secondary · St Albans
Other schools in St Albans
Loreto College ranks 4th of the 9 ranked secondary schools in St Albans.
- Beaumont School Secondary
- Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School Secondary
- Sandringham School Secondary
- St Albans Girls' 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 ages does Loreto College teach?
- Loreto College teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in St Albans.
- Who is the headteacher of Loreto College?
- The headteacher of Loreto College is Mrs Lucy Thompson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Loreto College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Loreto College, 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 Loreto College?
- Loreto College has 952 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Loreto College full?
- Loreto College has capacity for 927 pupils and 952 on roll (103%), so it is at or above 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 Loreto College a faith school?
- Yes. Loreto College is designated Roman Catholic, in the Archdiocese of Westminster.
- Is Loreto College a selective school?
- No. Loreto College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Loreto College part of an academy trust?
- Loreto College is part of LORETO COLLEGE (ST ALBANS). Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Loreto College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 60 in 2022/23 and 58.3 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Loreto College compare with other schools in Hertfordshire?
- Loreto College ranked 18th 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 17% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Loreto College's absence rate?
- Loreto College's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Loreto College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Loreto College'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.