Samuel Ryder Academy
Drakes Drive, St Albans, AL1 5AR
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 4 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- SCHOLARS' EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Kyle Barry
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Scholars' Education Trust
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,520
- Pupils on roll
- 1,577
- URN
- 138582
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727859382
About this school
Samuel Ryder Academy is an all-through academy in St Albans. It teaches children aged 4 to 19 and has 1,577 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
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 73% | 73% | 80% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 18% | 7% | 20% |
| Expected standard in reading | 85% | 87% | 93% |
| Expected standard in maths | 85% | 85% | 95% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 85% | 83% | 90% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 107.0 | 108.0 | 110.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 107.0 | 107.0 | 110.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.90 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +2.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +1.90 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 160 | 192 | 185 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.6 | 50.4 | 56.5 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.36 +0.14 to +0.59 | +0.35 +0.15 to +0.55 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 58% | 54.2% | 69.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 78% | 72.9% | 81.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 30% | 29.2% | 40% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.4 | 4.3 | 5.0 |
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 Samuel Ryder Academy 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 | 73% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 73% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 80% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Hertfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.6 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 50.4 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 56.5 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.7% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,508 |
| 2023/24 | 1,556 |
| 2024/25 | 1,577 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Samuel Ryder Academy compares
Samuel Ryder Academy ranked 25th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 89% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 26% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 56.5 | 6.9% | 19% | 1,577 | — |
| London Academy | 51.7 | 7% | 44.5% | 1,749 | 8.0 miles |
| Whitefriars School | 43 | 8.3% | 31.8% | 1,419 | 9.8 miles |
| Wren Academy Finchley | 59.8 | 5.2% | 16.2% | 1,623 | 10.7 miles |
| St Mary's and St John's CofE School | — | — | — | 1,651 | 10.8 miles |
| Simon Balle All-Through School | 55.4 | 5% | 10.7% | 1,617 | 11.0 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
- 29 June 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 18.99%
- English as an additional language
- 14.5%
- Overall absence
- 6.93%
- Persistent absence
- 21.19%
Location
Nearby schools
-
London Academy8.0 miles
All-through · Edgware
-
Whitefriars School9.8 miles
All-through · Harrow
-
Wren Academy Finchley10.7 miles
All-through · London
-
St Mary's and St John's CofE School10.8 miles
All-through · London
-
Simon Balle All-Through School11.0 miles
All-through · Hertford
Other schools in St Albans
Samuel Ryder Academy ranks 10th of the 31 ranked primary schools in St Albans, and Samuel Ryder Academy ranks 5th of the 9 ranked secondary schools in St Albans.
- 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
- Bowmansgreen Primary School Primary
- Camp Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Colney Heath Primary School Primary
- Cunningham Hill Infant School Primary
- Cunningham Hill Junior School Primary
- Fleetville Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Fleetville Junior School Primary
Recorded changes at this school
Previous headteacher: Mr Matthew Gauthier (until September 2026).
- Headteacher changed from Mr Matthew Gauthier to Mr Kyle Barry recorded 9 Sep 2026
Common questions
- What year groups does Samuel Ryder Academy teach?
- Samuel Ryder Academy teaches children aged 4 to 19. It is an all-through school in St Albans.
- Who is the headteacher of Samuel Ryder Academy?
- The headteacher of Samuel Ryder Academy is Mr Kyle Barry, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Samuel Ryder Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Samuel Ryder Academy, 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 Samuel Ryder Academy?
- Samuel Ryder Academy has 1,577 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 19.
- Is Samuel Ryder Academy full?
- Samuel Ryder Academy has capacity for 1,520 pupils and 1,577 on roll (104%), 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 Samuel Ryder Academy a faith school?
- No. Samuel Ryder Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Samuel Ryder Academy a selective school?
- No. Samuel Ryder Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Samuel Ryder Academy?
- Samuel Ryder Academy is part of SCHOLARS' EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Samuel Ryder Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 73% in 2022/23 and 80% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Samuel Ryder Academy rank locally?
- Samuel Ryder Academy ranked 25th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 89% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 26% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Samuel Ryder Academy's absence rate?
- Samuel Ryder Academy's overall absence rate is 6.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Samuel Ryder Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Samuel Ryder Academy'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 9 September 2026.