Ridgeway Academy
Herns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Mitcherson
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Ambition Education Trust
- Constituency
- Welwyn Hatfield
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,220
- Pupils on roll
- 875
- URN
- 146305
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01707351350
About this school
Ridgeway Academy is a secondary academy in Welwyn Garden City. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 875 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- 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 | 145 | 168 | 153 |
| Attainment 8 score | 38.9 | 37.9 | 35.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.36 -0.59 to -0.12 | -0.47 -0.69 to -0.26 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 27.4% | 24.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 57% | 50.6% | 48.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 6% | 8.3% | 15.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 3.1 | 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 Ridgeway 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 | 38.9 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 37.9 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 35.7 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 13.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 904 |
| 2023/24 | 947 |
| 2024/25 | 929 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Ridgeway Academy compares
Ridgeway Academy ranked 75th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 28% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 35.7 | 11.5% | 32.5% | 875 | — |
| Monk's Walk School | 50.8 | 7.3% | 20.3% | 1,440 | 1.8 miles |
| Stanborough School | 47.9 | 5.5% | 20% | 1,287 | 1.9 miles |
| The Sele School | 35.7 | 12.9% | 35% | 382 | 3.3 miles |
| Onslow St Audrey's School | 36.6 | 11.8% | 35.5% | 787 | 3.4 miles |
| Bishop's Hatfield Girls' School | 51.9 | 8% | 18.8% | 942 | 3.6 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)
- 32.52%
- English as an additional language
- 9%
- Overall absence
- 11.54%
- Persistent absence
- 30.06%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Monk's Walk School1.8 miles
Secondary · Welwyn Garden City
-
Stanborough School1.9 miles
Secondary · Welwyn Garden City
-
The Sele School3.3 miles
Secondary · Hertford
-
Onslow St Audrey's School3.4 miles
Secondary · Hatfield
-
Bishop's Hatfield Girls' School3.6 miles
Secondary · Hatfield
Other schools in Welwyn Garden City
- Monk's Walk School Secondary
- Stanborough School Secondary
- Ludwick Nursery School Nursery
- Applecroft School Primary
- Commonswood Primary & Nursery School Primary
- Creswick Academy Primary
- Harwood Hill Junior Mixed Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Holwell Primary School Primary
- Homerswood Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Our Lady Catholic Primary School Primary
- Panshanger Primary School Primary
- Peartree Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Ridgeway Academy teach?
- Ridgeway Academy teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Welwyn Garden City.
- Who is the headteacher of Ridgeway Academy?
- The headteacher of Ridgeway Academy is Mrs Sarah Mitcherson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Ridgeway Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Ridgeway 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 Ridgeway Academy?
- Ridgeway Academy has 875 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Ridgeway Academy full?
- Ridgeway Academy has capacity for 1,220 pupils and 875 on roll (72%), 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 Ridgeway Academy a faith school?
- No. Ridgeway Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Ridgeway Academy a selective school?
- No. Ridgeway Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Ridgeway Academy?
- Ridgeway Academy 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 Ridgeway Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 38.9 in 2022/23 and 35.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Ridgeway Academy rank locally?
- Ridgeway Academy ranked 75th of 78 secondary schools in Hertfordshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 28% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Ridgeway Academy's absence rate?
- Ridgeway Academy's overall absence rate is 11.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Ridgeway Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Ridgeway 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 10 July 2026.