Forest Hall School, Stansted Mountfitchet

Ofsted's report card from its 10 February 2026 inspection grades Forest Hall School on 6 areas: 2 strong standard, 2 expected standard and 2 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Inclusion - Strong standard. "Leaders hold high expectations for all pupils."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "Leaders are ambitious for pupils' personal development and academic successes."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have an accurate overview of curriculum and teaching quality."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders, including the trust and governors, promote high aspirations for all pupils to achieve well."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Too many pupils have significant gaps in their learning, so they do not achieve consistently well in national tests and examinations."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Not enough pupils attend school as often as they should."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that, across subjects, staff check pupils' understanding of the content they are taught systematically, so that gaps in learning and misconceptions are addressed quickly"; "Leaders should review their attendance strategies to ensure that they are reducing persistent absence as intended. They should act promptly to make changes when they are not"; "Leaders should continue to deepen their analysis of the range of information the school holds to sharpen further the precision and effectiveness of improvement actions taken".

In its own words: "At Forest Hall School, we aim to cultivate a learning environment where students discover their potential, acquire essential knowledge, and develop the confidence to achieve their aspirations for a bright and successful future. Forest Hall School is a mainstream secondary school for students in Years 7 to 11."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, netball, basketball, badminton, dance, drama, chess, STEM, gardening and art.

In 2026, pupils at Forest Hall School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 42.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.5 in Essex and 47 across England.

42% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 45% in Essex and 47% in England.

That is up from 40.6 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.27: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 39.3, against 44.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 5.6 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 21 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Art and Design and History.

For September 2026 entry, 99 families put Forest Hall School as their first choice and 329 named it as one of their preferences, for 116 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 12 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Forest Hall School are Birchwood High School (1.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.5); Hockerill Anglo-European College (2.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 62.3); The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science College (2.4 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 62); and Avanti Grange Secondary School (2.5 miles).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Forest Hall School.

Forest Hall School is one of 12 schools run by Bmat Education, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40.7 in 2024/25.

106 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Forest Hall School (as of April 2026): 83% would recommend the school, 76% say their child is happy there and 60% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that pupils behave well (85%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (60%).

Of the 107 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 84% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 56% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 5% into work.

5.9% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 117 pupils (23.1%) received SEN support and 46 (9.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

Forest Hall School has a resourced provision (15 places, 9 pupils on roll) and a SEN unit (15 places, 9 pupils on roll) for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and other difficulties or disabilities.

The nearest railway station is Stansted Mountfitchet Rail Station, about 980 metres away (roughly a 12-minute walk).

3 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is School (outside), 50 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 43 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and public order offences. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Essex (97).

In 2024/25, Forest Hall School issued 190 suspensions, 40.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Forest Hall School are St Mary's CofE Foundation Primary School (0.4 miles), Magna Carta Primary Academy (0.8 miles), Birchanger Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School (0.9 miles) and Bentfield Primary School and Nursery (1.2 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.