Fearnhill School

Fearnhill School is a secondary school with sixth-form provision and around 601 pupils. It serves a context with above-average free school meals and location deprivation. Inspectors found a school that is meeting expected standards in most areas, with an inclusive culture, an ambitious curriculum, strong support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, positive relationships, calm classrooms, and effective personal development and careers education. Safeguarding standards are met.

Strengths

• Inclusive culture that prioritises pupils with barriers to learning
• Strong support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND
• Ambitious and broad curriculum across key stages, including post-16
• Effective literacy and reading/writing interventions
• High-quality pastoral care and wellbeing support
• Comprehensive personal development and wellbeing programme
• Well-established careers education and guidance
• Positive relationships between pupils and staff
• Calm and purposeful classrooms with generally good behaviour
• Experienced governors provide effective challenge and support
• Staff receive effective subject-specific and SEND training
• Post-16 students progress to ambitious and appropriate destinations

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance remains low and persistent absence is above national averages
• Some groups of pupils are persistently absent despite leaders' work
• Actions to improve attendance need to be more rapid and better evaluated and monitored
• Teaching and learning practice is not yet consistently embedded across all subjects
• Pupil engagement varies in a small minority of lessons where explanations or routines are less secure
• Published GCSE outcomes, including English and maths, and A-level outcomes have been below national averages
• The disadvantage gap remains wide in some published performance measures

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Fearnhill School attended 89.1% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 31.0% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 11.1% of pupils at Fearnhill School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Fearnhill School had 14.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 21.1% of pupils at Fearnhill School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Fearnhill School received £9,044 and spent £9,116 for each of its 597 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £122,000 (-£204 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in North Hertfordshire · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Fearnhill School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Fearnhill School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Fearnhill School last inspected by Ofsted?

Fearnhill School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Fearnhill School have?

Fearnhill School has 597 pupils on roll.

What age range does Fearnhill School cover?

Fearnhill School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Fearnhill School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 37.5, and 19% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Fearnhill School?

Fearnhill School is at Icknield Way West, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 4BA.