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Watford Grammar School for Girls A GSG School

What says..

School is unapologetic about its fast pace, openly encouraging prospective families to ‘choose carefully’, with pupils agreeing that while bright girls can and do thrive in this environment, the least able may be less well suited. That said, parents told us there is ‘lots of support’ once girls are in situ. It’s ‘cool’ to work hard here and effort is rewarded as much as attainment at the annual prize-giving. You only need to look at the photos of the junior choir – a mass of yellow shirts – to get a feel for how inclusive music is here. And they’re good, as are the other choirs, orchestras and ensembles, with parents describing the ...

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What the school says...

A high achieving academic school with a proud tradition of developing women with vision. Founded in 1704 the school serves the diverse community in the urban setting of Watford.

Girls work in a challenging and supportive environment and are expected to fulfil their potential. A wide variety of extended curricular activities is available. There is a close working partnership with Watford Boys Grammar School particularly in the large Sixth Form of 400 girls. ...Read more

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What The Good Schools Guide says

Headteacher

Since April 2018, Sylvia Tai. Geography degree from Liverpool and PGCE from Oxford; fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; is currently completing an MA in education management at King's College London. Joined the school in 2007 as assistant head, becoming deputy head and then acting head following the sudden departure of previous head Clare Wagner after just one academic year - in contrast to her predecessor Helen Hyde, who reigned for a whopping 29 (surely a record in the state sector). Previously taught at Mill Hill County High, St Albans Girls, Tring and schools in Botswana. She has travelled widely and is keen to develop the school’s global awareness, leading school expeditions to places such as Mozambique, Borneo and Nepal and establishing links with schools in China. Has improved links with the local community...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

We maintain a register of more able pupils and one for gifted and talented pupils so that teachers are able to plan differentiated work and extension activities. The school has a learning support register with approximately 50 girls, the majority of whom have mild or very mild learning disorders such as dyslexia.

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Aspergers Y
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 Y
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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