Broadfield Academy

About Broadfield Academy

Broadfield Academy is a state primary in Dacorum that parents clearly want to get into. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 105 applications for just 43 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.44. That means more than two families applied for every available spot, and only 30 of those offers went to first-preference applicants. It’s a strong signal of local demand, though the school doesn’t publish a parent-view survey percentage to back that up directly. The school is rated Good by Ofsted following its May 2022 graded inspection, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2016. Every category inspected — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision — was judged Good. With 430 pupils on roll against a capacity of 420, the school is slightly over capacity, which fits with its popularity. Around 28.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, above the national average, so the school serves a mixed catchment.

Academically, Broadfield’s Key Stage 2 results for 2023/24 show a mixed picture. The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 51%, which is below the local authority average of 64%. That places the school 33rd out of 47 primary schools in Dacorum, putting it in the bottom half locally and the bottom 50% nationally. However, individual subject scores are more encouraging. Average scaled scores in both reading and maths were 104, and 69% of pupils met the expected standard in each of those subjects individually. Writing was weaker, with 56% reaching the expected standard and just 2% working at a higher level. Maths saw 20% of pupils achieving the higher standard, while reading had 22%. No progress scores are available for any subject, so it’s hard to say how much value the school adds from pupils’ starting points. The school has no sixth form, as expected for a primary.

Broadfield offers a decent range of facilities for a primary, including a sports hall, ICT suite, playing fields, a sensory room and even a chapel. Sports on offer include football, cross country, tennis and cricket, while clubs run the gamut from art and drama to chess, science and book club. The school’s SEND provision is notably broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate to severe learning difficulties, speech and language needs, autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health needs, and multi-sensory impairment. That makes it a potentially strong choice for families whose children need additional support. There is also nursery provision for children from age 3. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Brockswood Primary School, 3.3 km away, so Broadfield is a solid Good option for families who want a well-subscribed local school with a wide SEND offer and a good range of clubs and facilities, even if its headline SATs results sit below the local average.

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