The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College A GSG School
- The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College
Warwick Road
Bishop's Stortford
Hertfordshire
CM23 5NJ - Head: Mrs Cathy Tooze
- T 01279 654127
- F 01279 508810
- E admin@hertsandessex.herts.sch.uk
- W www.hertsandes…ex.herts.sch.uk
- A state school for girls aged from 11 to 18.
- Read about the best schools in East Hertfordshire and West Hertfordshire
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: Hertfordshire
- Pupils: 1,460 ; sixth formers: 538 (165 boys)
- Religion: Non-denominational
- Open days: End of September for secondary transfer, early November for Sixth Form
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
- 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
- Outcomes for children and learners Outstanding 1
- Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1
- Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1
- 1 Full inspection 14th November 2023
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
A very successful school, a particular feat given the fact that it is totally non-selective. Certainly no glazed eyes or yawning in classes when we visited. Chalk and talk is out; hands-on, interactive teaching is in. The curriculum itself is traditional, with modern aspects, including technology, with one computer to every three students, although iPads only regularly used in sixth form. Coaching and mentoring are big here and sixth formers are trained as peer mentors who support pupils lower down the school by acting as ‘buddies’. Leadership also strong, with...
What the school says...
Herts & Essex offers a blend of tradition and modernity which enables its students to achieve excellent results in an environment which fosters a sense of responsibility and promotes leadership skills.
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What The Good Schools Guide says
Executive headteacher
Since 2009, Cathy Tooze MEd (Cantab), previously head of Hadleigh High School in Suffolk. Positive and authoritative, her manner is relaxed, though you feel she can be firm when the situation demands. Instantly likable, and both interesting and interested, pupils wax lyrical about her approachability, fairness and commitment to not letting a single student slip through the net. ‘She’ll always give you a smile, and if she’s strict about something, you know there’s a good reason for it,’ said one student.
A National Leader of Education and Ofsted inspector, she is often away from the school, but has created a strong leadership team to ensure she’s not indispensable. ‘I’m not a massively hands-on type of head anyway,’ she says, pointing out that she doesn’t teach much (an hour a...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
There is a whole school approach to Special Educational Needs at the Hertfordshire & Essex High School. All staff have a role to play in the development and well being of all students. The school and staff have considerable experience in dealing with a variety of educational, physical and behavioural needs. The needs of students are met in various ways: in-class support, with a Teaching Assistant who can focus on students with difficulties; specialist resources where appropriate; differentiation of tasks in class and homework; small group or individual work, where appropriate, allowing for practice or alternative or expanded explanations; short withdrawal courses during the school day, to support development in literacy or numeracy; a literacy development option in place of learning a second modern language in Years 8 and 9; additional work experience and/or vocational courses at Key Stage 4; links with other secondary schools in the area who offer short courses for Gifted and Talented pupils; supported homework club twice a week; paired reading programme for pupils in Years 7 and 8; buddy system for year 7; behaviour support programmes. Individual Learning Plans are reviewed termly and close contact is kept with parents. The Additional Educational Needs Manager is always available to talk to parents by appointment and attends all parent consultation evenings. On entering the school all year 7 students are assessed by means of the NFER Cognitive Ability Tests and by various literacy and numeracy assessments. This ensures that pupils who need additional support or access to different resources have their academic needs met. All assessment data is made available to all staff such that planning can take into consideration the range of needs of the class. Monitoring and assessment of pupils with additional educational needs continues throughout their school career. Access arrangements for exams are assessed early and wherever possible, exam board permission permitting, special arrangements are made, and pupils given time, and training in using these arrangements effectively. All staff have a commitment to differentiation and the development of literacy across the curriculum. There are opportunities throughout each year for staff to share good classroom practice and to discuss teaching and learning.
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | |
| Dysgraphia | |
| Dyslexia | |
| Dyspraxia | |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment |
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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