Secondary
Ridgeway Academy
Herns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF
Key facts
- Phase
- Secondary
- Type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Intake
- Mixed
- Pupils
- 875 of 1220 places
- Pupils per teacher
- 19.0
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Trust
- AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST
Staffing23/24
- Teachers (FTE)
- 49.7
- All staff (FTE)
- 69.8
- Pupils per adult
- 13.6
- Pupils
- 947
Staff are counted as full-time equivalents in the November school workforce census, so the pupil figure here is that census’s own and will differ a little from the roll above, which is counted in January.
Ofsted
Last inspected June 2025
- Behaviour and attitudesGood
- Leadership and governanceGood
- Personal developmentGood
- Quality of educationGood
- Sixth formGood
Inspected under the previous framework, which used its own four-point scale. Ofsted now publishes a report card grading several areas separately, so these grades are not directly comparable with a recent inspection’s.
SafeguardingMet
Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)Earlier inspections1
January 2023
Previous framework
Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudesRequires improvement
- Leadership and governanceRequires improvement
- Personal developmentGood
- Quality of educationRequires improvement
GCSE results
25%
35.7
3rd of 3 by our score, among the secondary schools in Welwyn Garden City we can score - 4 in total, the rest without enough published data. Local and same-phase on purpose: a national table mostly measures who attends.
All published measures2024/2025
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 35.7 |
| EBacc average point score | 2.93 |
| Entered the EBacc | 16% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 48% |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 25% |
| A level average points per entry | 27.67 |
| A level students | 34 |
From the Department for Education. Measures are published per year and suppressed where a cohort is too small, so some schools show fewer. There are no results for 2019/20 or 2020/21, when exams and assessments were cancelled.
Results over time4 years
Each measure on its own scale, over every year we hold.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 12% |
| 22/23 | 29% |
| 23/24 | 27% |
| 24/25 | 25% |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 30.0 |
| 22/23 | 27.8 |
| 23/24 | 29.5 |
| 24/25 | 27.7 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | -1.02 |
| 22/23 | -0.36 |
| 23/24 | -0.47 |
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 21/22 | 32.0 |
| 22/23 | 38.9 |
| 23/24 | 37.9 |
| 24/25 | 35.7 |
Herns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF
Admissions
How to apply (opens in a new tab)
You apply through your council, not the school - even for academies and free schools. Applications close on 31 October, the year before starting.
Hertfordshire admissions (opens in a new tab)
The council publishes the oversubscription criteria and last year’s offer distances, which is the closest thing to knowing your chances.
If you are refused a place (opens in a new tab)
You can appeal, and you can join a waiting list at the same time. Accept whatever offer you get first - declining it can leave you with no place at all.
This school’s own admissions (opens in a new tab)
Schools that set their own criteria - faith schools, grammars, academies - publish them on their own site.
Contact
- Headteacher
- Sarah Mitcherson
- Address
- Herns Lane, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 2AF
- Telephone
- 01707351350