Friern Barnet School

About Friern Barnet School

Friern Barnet School sits in the London borough of Barnet, a local authority packed with 32 secondary schools and six rated Outstanding by Ofsted. The school itself ranks 27th in the borough on Progress 8, placing it behind high-performing neighbours such as Menorah High School for Girls, The Totteridge Academy, and Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet. For context, the nearest Outstanding-rated school, The Compton School, is less than a kilometre away. Friern Barnet is a state-funded, mixed secondary for pupils aged 11 to 16, with no sixth form. It is led by headteacher Simon Horne and currently has 641 pupils on roll against a capacity of 810. The school is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 academic year, it received 270 applications for 146 places, with only 29 first-preference offers made. More than a third of its pupils (37.4%) are eligible for free school meals, a figure well above the national average and a key indicator of the community it serves.

Academically, Friern Barnet's most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024 confirmed it remains Good, a rating it has held consistently since at least 2014. The school's Progress 8 score sits at exactly zero, meaning pupils make average progress compared with peers nationally. This is notably below the Barnet local authority average of 0.6, which reflects the high performance of many schools in the area. In English, pupils achieve a Progress 8 score of 0.24, indicating slightly above-average progress, while maths lags at -0.21. The Attainment 8 score is 44.6, and 62.9% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths. The EBacc average point score is 3.71, with just 15.2% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. Nationally, the school ranks 1,515th out of 3,141 schools on Progress 8, placing it in the middle band.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including science labs, an astro turf pitch, a swimming pool, tennis courts, and music rooms. Sports provision covers netball, football, rowing, and athletics, while clubs include the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Young Enterprise, and eco and gardening clubs. SEND support is available for pupils with moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, physical disabilities, and other difficulties. With no sixth form, families will need to plan for post-16 transition. Given its oversubscription and high FSM rate, this is a school that serves a diverse, local community well, but parents should weigh its average Progress 8 against the stronger academic outcomes available at nearby schools. It suits families who value a Good-rated, inclusive environment with strong facilities and a broad extracurricular offer, rather than a top-tier academic focus.

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