Watford Grammar School for Boys A GSG School
- Watford Grammar School for Boys
Rickmansworth Road
Watford
Hertfordshire
WD18 7JF - Head: Mr I Cooksey
- T 01923 208900
- F 01923 208901
- E office@watfordboys.org
- W www.watfordboys.org
- A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18.
- Read about the best schools in East Hertfordshire and West Hertfordshire
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: Hertfordshire
- Pupils: 1557; sixth formers: 435
- Religion: Non-denominational
- Open days: See website
- 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 13th October 2021
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
No less than 21 competitive sports grace the WBGS fixture calendar which sees 90 teams a year compete in around 600 fixtures against local heavy hitters from the independent sector as well as local district schools. It’s rugby, hockey and cricket – no football, although our nerves were put to the test crossing the playground at break for fear of...
What the school says...
Converted to an academy 2011.
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Curricula
Cambridge Pre-U - an alternative to A levels, with all exams at the end of the two-year course.
What The Good Schools Guide says
Headteacher
Since 2016, Ian Cooksey MA (Oxon) MA (Lond) (40s). Read biological sciences at Oxford. A state sector stalwart, cut his teeth at stellar grammar Tiffin School, Kingston upon Thames, where he rose from biology teacher to assistant head. Moved as vice principal to Tomlinscote School, Frimley, before successfully taking King’s International School, Camberley, out of special measures. His first headship was at top girls’ grammar school, Dr Challoner’s High, in Amersham where he spent four years before moving to WBGS.
Had big shoes to fill – his predecessor moved on to become regional schools commissioner – but reportedly became at home very quickly at WBGS, where he arrived to find ‘an incredibly dedicated, passionate staff giving way above and beyond’. A linear thinker and communicator, says his key targets are threefold:...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
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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