The Marlborough Science Academy

Academy converter·Secondary school St Albans, Hertfordshire·AL1 2QA
Composite score
54.2
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#2,006
National rank
#221
In East of England
#54
In Hertfordshire
Top 63%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
43.4
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
36%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
60%
% EBacc grade 5+
15%
EBacc average points score
3.80

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Leadership and management
Outstanding
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision
Outstanding

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
89%
182 first choices, 235 places
First choices per place
0.77
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
621
any preference, for 235 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.04
00.511.5
1 per place
0.8520220.8220230.8020240.8120250.772026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

We do not have a checked cut-off distance for The Marlborough Science Academy yet. Hertfordshire does publish allocation figures and we are working through them council by council — we only show a distance once we have found it in the council’s own document.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,335
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
22.3%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
8.7%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
15.1%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.4%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
9.7%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
35.5%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
18.6
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,924
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
94%
202 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
92%
Apprenticeship
0%
Employment
2%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

The Marlborough Science Academy at a glance

Located in St Albans, Hertfordshire, The Marlborough Science Academy is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 1,335 pupils aged 11 to 18. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' at its most recent inspection. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 43.4, broadly in line with the national average of 46. That is down 0.7 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

36% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 60% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. 89% of the families who made The Marlborough Science Academy their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, even though the school made at least as many offers as it had first choices - the rest withdrew, moved or fell outside a priority group. After Year 11, 94% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.7%. There are about 18.6 pupils per teacher. Given the recent dip in results, it may be worth asking the school what is behind the change and what is being done in response. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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