The Reach Free School
Secondary · Free schools · Mixed · Hertfordshire
Long Lane, Rickmansworth, WD3 8AB
67
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Standards maintained
No graded inspection
Application demand
64%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
90.8%
25.6% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
734
Capacity used
Has space87%
840 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
64%
1st preference success rate
78 of 121 families who put it first got an offer
107
Places offered
353
Total applications
3.3
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 121 | 78 | ● 64% |
| 2nd preference | 53 | 9 | ● 17% |
| 3rd preference | 94 | 10 | ● 11% |
| 4th preference | 85 | 10 | ● 12% |
| Total | 353 | 107 | 30% |
1st preference success by year
Hertfordshire lets families list 4 preferences. 139 applications came from outside the council area (34 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Headteacher
- Richard Booth
- Address
- Long Lane, Rickmansworth, WD3 8AB
- Phone
- 01923711517
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward / constituency
- Penn & Mill End · South West Hertfordshire
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 139662
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 21% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 20% | — | — |
| SEN support | 19% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 2 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: REACH LEARNING LIMITED
734 pupils · 840 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
16 October 2024
Ungraded inspection
Standards maintained
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 677 pupils
Attendance
90.8%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
9.2%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
25.6%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
5.3%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
3.1%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 46.6 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.02 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 44% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 64% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.33 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 33.30 | — | — |
Average grade: C+ (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 44.2 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 35.3% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 62.2% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 69.7% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.11 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 119 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
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 | 30.7 | 35 |
| Average grade | C | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 11.8% | 17% |
| A-level students | 51 | — |
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 | 117 | 16% | 49% | 69% | |
| English Language | 117 | 9% | 43% | 66% | |
| English Literature | 115 | 7% | 43% | 61% | |
| Combined Science | 85 | 9% | 34% | 59% | |
| Spanish | 80 | 14% | 73% | 91% | |
| Geography | 60 | 18% | 47% | 63% | |
| Business | 48 | 8% | 44% | 67% | |
| Computer Science | 39 | 26% | 64% | 82% | |
| History | 37 | 19% | 43% | 57% | |
| Biology | 33 | 15% | 67% | 79% | |
| Physics | 28 | 29% | 75% | 89% | |
| Chemistry | 28 | 46% | 89% | 96% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociology | 20 | 0% | 5% | 30% | |
| Psychology | 19 | 0% | 11% | 26% | |
| Biology | 16 | 6% | 6% | 44% | |
| Mathematics | 12 | 8% | 17% | 42% | |
| Chemistry | 9 | 0% | 11% | 33% | |
| Religious Studies | 9 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| English Literature | 9 | 0% | 0% | 11% | |
| History | 7 | 0% | 14% | 43% | |
| Computer Science | 7 | 0% | 14% | 71% | |
| Spanish | 6 | 0% | 17% | 33% | |
| Physics | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Film Studies | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
No Cambridge offers this year
UCAS apply centre 20103: The Reach Free School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | 0 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
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.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 82% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 4% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 84% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Hertfordshire council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
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.