The Purcell School
Other independent school · Mixed · Hertfordshire
Aldenham Road, WD23 2TS
57
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
—
No graded inspection
Application demand
—
No council data
Attendance
—
No data
At a glance
Pupils on roll
192
Capacity used
Has space87%
220 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Details
- Type
- Other independent school
- Age range
- 8–19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- Boarding school
- Headteacher
- Paul Bambrough
- Address
- Aldenham Road, Bushey, WD23 2TS
- Phone
- 01923331100
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward / constituency
- Bushey North · Watford
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 102256
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | — | — | — |
| English as additional language | — | — | — |
| SEN support | 17% | — | — |
192 pupils · 220 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
No state-school Ofsted inspection on record (independent schools are often inspected by ISI).
View all Ofsted reportsGCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 40.2 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | — | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 46% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 55% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 3.67 | — | — |
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 38.95 | — | — |
Average grade: B (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 47.7 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 54.3% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 82.9% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 0% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.41 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 35 | — |
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 37 | 35 |
| Average grade | B- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 2.8% | 17% |
| A-level students | 42 | — |
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 35 | 34% | 77% | 94% | |
| Combined Science | 31 | 48% | 74% | 94% | |
| English Language | 31 | 29% | 68% | 94% | |
| French | 16 | 63% | 88% | 100% | |
| Art and Design | 14 | 43% | 79% | 93% | |
| English Literature | 13 | 46% | 77% | 85% | |
| German | 11 | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Media / Film / TV | 8 | 25% | 88% | 100% | |
| Drama | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Biology | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Physics | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Chemistry | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | 42 | 14% | 48% | 76% | |
| Music Technology | 22 | 5% | 9% | 45% | |
| Fine Art | 14 | 14% | 43% | 79% | |
| English Literature | 13 | 0% | 0% | 15% | |
| Mathematics | 6 | 17% | 33% | 33% | |
| French | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| History | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Biology | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Drama and Theatre Studies | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Chemistry | 2 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Photography | 2 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| German | 1 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 11953: The Purcell School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | ≤5 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.