Best Schools in Barnet

How many schools are there in Barnet?

Barnet has 25 open schools: 14 state primary, 5 state secondary or all-through, 2 independent, 1 special and 3 others.

Source: DfE Get Information About Schools

Which schools in Barnet are rated Outstanding?

8 schools in Barnet were rated Outstanding at their most recent graded Ofsted inspection: Whitings Hill Primary School; Livingstone Primary and Nursery School; Ark Pioneer Academy; Monken Hadley CofE Primary School; Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet; and 3 more. Counting Good as well, 100% of the 21 graded schools here are rated Good or better. Ofsted stopped giving single-word overall grades in September 2024, so these are the grades from each school's last full inspection.

Whitings Hill Primary SchoolLivingstone Primary and Nursery SchoolArk Pioneer AcademyMonken Hadley CofE Primary SchoolQueen Elizabeth's School, Barnet

Source: Ofsted

Which secondary schools in Barnet get the best GCSE results?

Of the 5 schools in Barnet with 2026 GCSE results, the highest Attainment 8 scores - the average grade across a pupil's best eight GCSEs - were at Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet (selective grammar), with an Attainment 8 score of 87.1 and 100% passing English and maths at grade 5 or above; Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, with an Attainment 8 score of 61.2 and 74% passing English and maths at grade 5 or above; and Southgate School, with an Attainment 8 score of 54.4 and 61% passing English and maths at grade 5 or above. Selective schools admit by ability, so their raw results are not a like-for-like comparison with comprehensives. Progress 8, the DfE's value-added measure, was not published for 2026.

Queen Elizabeth's School, BarnetQueen Elizabeth's Girls' SchoolSouthgate School

Source: DfE school performance data

Which primary schools in Barnet have the best SATs results?

Of the 13 primary schools in Barnet with 2025 Key Stage 2 results, the highest shares of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading and maths were at Monken Hadley CofE Primary School (96% in reading, 100% in maths); St Catherine's RC School (97% in reading, 95% in maths); and St Mary's CofE Primary School, East Barnet (97% in reading, 90% in maths). Small schools can swing a long way from one year to the next, because each pupil is a large share of the result.

Monken Hadley CofE Primary SchoolSt Catherine's RC SchoolSt Mary's CofE Primary School, East Barnet

Source: DfE school performance data

Are there grammar schools in Barnet?

Yes. Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet is a state grammar school in Barnet. Grammar schools admit pupils by ability through an entrance test, usually sat at the start of Year 6.

Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet

Source: DfE Get Information About Schools

Do schools in Barnet have catchment areas?

Most state schools in Barnet have no fixed catchment boundary. When a school is oversubscribed, the council allocates places on its published criteria - usually looked-after children first, then siblings, then home-to-school distance - so the practical cut-off moves each year. Each school's page here shows an estimate of its catchment radius.

How do I apply for a school place in Barnet?

Apply to your council - Barnet or Enfield, depending on your address - through its coordinated admissions process, even for academies and faith schools. In England the closing date is 31 October for secondary places and 15 January for primary places, in the year before your child starts. Independent schools run their own admissions, so apply to those directly.