Hendon School

About Hendon School

Hendon School sits within the London borough of Barnet, a local authority with 32 secondary schools where competition for places is fierce. Among its same-type peers, the school ranks 27th out of 28 by Progress 8 score, placing it in the bottom half of the borough. The top-performing neighbours are Menorah High School for Girls, The Totteridge Academy, and Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, all of which post significantly higher Progress 8 scores. Hendon’s own Progress 8 score of -0.13 means pupils here leave with slightly lower attainment than the national average, and well below the Barnet LA average of 0.6. The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 380 applications for 193 places, with 83 first-preference offers. That level of demand suggests strong local reputation despite the middling academic ranking, and the school’s 38.5 per cent pupil premium rate indicates it serves a more disadvantaged intake than many of its neighbours.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2022, Hendon School was rated Good overall, with Good in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. That’s a notable shift from its previous inspection in 2011, when it was judged Outstanding. At Key Stage 4, the school’s Attainment 8 score sits at 44.8, and 62 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is 54.5 per cent, with 24.4 per cent achieving the EBacc at grade 5 or above. Progress 8 is negative across all subject areas, with the weakest performance in open subjects (-0.23) and the strongest in EBacc and English (both -0.08). At Key Stage 5, the school’s value-added score is -0.07, classed as Average, and the average points per entry is 26.95, equivalent to a C- grade. The best three A-levels average out at a C- grade, with only 2.8 per cent of entries achieving AAB or higher.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, astro turf, gymnasium, sports hall, theatre, and art studios, plus a dedicated sixth-form centre. Sports provision covers gymnastics, rounders, basketball, dance, cricket, hockey, cross country, and swimming, while clubs include newspaper, film club, gardening, choir, and science club. SEND support is extensive, with provisions for specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, multi-sensory impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder, alongside a resourced provision. Hendon is a mixed, non-denominational secondary school with a sixth form, and its oversubscription ratio of 1.97 means families need to apply early. It will suit parents looking for a large, inclusive community school with strong facilities and a broad curriculum, particularly those who value a Good Ofsted rating and a sixth form on site over top-tier academic rankings.

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