The Good Schools Guide has heaped praise on a Watford secondary school in a recent report compiled following a series of interviews with staff, parents and students earlier this year.

Its report on the Watford Grammar School for Boys, in Rickmansworth Road, concluded it is “a popular and purposeful semi selective school which not only ticks the academic, sporting and musical boxes but also ‘turns out real gentlemen’”.

A wide ranging analysis of the school scrutinising different departments, as well as pastoral care and academic results, found little fault.

Results were described as “stellar stuff considering only 25 per cent of the cohort is selected on academic ability”.

The report also identified the school’s aim to create well-rounded individuals, commenting that it is “upping the ante on wellbeing and determined to create an environment that helps pupils prioritise skills that lead to success in life rather than just bag top exam results”.

Headmaster Ian Cooksey said: “We value the conclusions of the Good Schools Guide very highly because it is so thorough; these conclusions haven’t just come from what we say, it is the feedback of our students and their parents as well.

“We want to see every student that comes through this school achieving their very best in every area, which is why it’s so fantastic to receive this report on not just our academic results but our sporting, musical and pastoral offer as well.”

While many academic areas were singled out for praise, the school’s extra-curricular activities came in for particular praise, with music described as “phenomenal”, and the Muse described as the “best [music centre] we’ve seen in any state maintained school… parents who previously didn’t know their sons had a musical bone are blown away by the passion inspired in them by the music teaching staff and the speed at which they skip through the grades”.