St George's School (Harpenden) A GSG School
- St George's School (Harpenden)
Sun Lane
Harpenden
Hertfordshire
AL5 4EY - Head: Helen Barton
- T 01582 765477
- F 01582 469830
- E [email protected]
- W www.stgeorges.herts.sch.uk
- A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18.
- Read about the best schools in East Hertfordshire and West Hertfordshire
- Boarding: Yes
- Local authority: Hertfordshire
- Pupils: 1,391; sixth formers: 420
- Religion: Christian
- Fees: Day free; Boarding £15,600 pa
- Open days: October
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Outstanding 1
- 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1
- 1 Full inspection 10th September 2014
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
Middle-class? You bet – this is affluent Harpenden. Boarders mainly from further afield, with around 55 per cent of these from overseas. As a non-selective school regularly delivering high results, parents can bank on St George’s knocking it out of the park when it comes to value-added. Possibly the best art department of any school for miles around – ‘the pride of the school,’ say students. A few parents feel the sport is a bit…
What the school says...
Highly successful and heavily oversubscribed. Popular boarding - 130 boys and girls come from the UK and around the world with Middle East ex pat families well represented. A non-denominational Christian school where regular Sunday Chapel attendance is compulsory for all pupils in Y7-11 three times each term.
Recent building work has provided new Languages Centre and Sports Hall. Sixth form hugely popular. Uniform, discipline and an ethos of respect and values are at the heart of the school. Pastoral care and student life is based round the exceptionally strong Houses system, which also provides a range of competitions and extra-curricular activities. The Prefect and House Captain system gives students responsibility at early stage and students are fiercely loyal to their House.
The School has an extensive programme of major sports, music, performance and other events. School trips, visits and international exchanges bring a richness to the experience of the students during their time at St George's. No early entry for GCSE as school believes in enriching all courses and allowing pupils the chance to develop skills in sports, drama, music and other areas of curriculum. Rugby and Lacrosse winter sports very strong, Music has many orchestras and ensembles, Art exceptionally wide ranging. Not a school that seeks to inflate grade record but one that centres on the individual. Sixth Form record impressive - all major universities represented each year. The school's motto is 'Aim Higher' and this is demonstrable in the school attitude to everything that it does. ...Read more
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School associations
State boarding school
What The Good Schools Guide says
Headmistress
Since 2017, Helen Barton BA PGCSE MEd (50s). Previously deputy head since 2008 and assistant head since 2005. Following a degree in geography (University of Wales), she trained as an accountant before seeing the light and taking a PGCE (Institute of Education). Taught geography at Stopsley High School, Luton then Marriotts School, Stevenage (‘difficult but rewarding’) before moving into the independent sector at what is now Bedford Girls’ School. No longer teaches – ‘it’s a very busy school and it’s hard, as a head, to have consistency in the classroom’ – but does break and lunch duties and nobody could say she’s remote.
Affable, pragmatic and straight talking, with a clear sense of ownership of the school (‘my staff’, ‘my pupils’, ‘my classroom dynamics’ etc). Parents – a discerning bunch –...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | |
| Aspergers | |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | |
| 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 | Y |
| 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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