Maple Grove Primary School

About Maple Grove Primary School

When you look at Maple Grove Primary School’s headline metrics against the Hertfordshire local authority average for primary schools, the gap is stark. Just 17% of its pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2 in 2023/24, compared with a county average of 64%. That places the school 46th out of 47 schools in Dacorum and in the bottom 1% nationally. The picture is similarly tough in individual subjects: only 34% reached the expected standard in maths, 52% in reading, and 24% in writing. No pupils at all achieved the higher standard across all three subjects. These are not just below average figures — they are significantly behind what most Hertfordshire primary schools deliver, and they help explain why the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in September 2023 rated overall effectiveness as Requires Improvement.

That Ofsted report, published in November 2023, downgraded Maple Grove from its previous Good rating, which it had held since at least 2014. Every inspected area — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision — was judged to require improvement. The school’s Progress 8 scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, but the raw average scores tell their own story: a maths average of 97 and a reading average of 101, both well below the national benchmark of 100. With 28.7% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with above-average disadvantage, and the outcomes suggest that the current approach is not yet closing the gap for these children.

Maple Grove is a small primary school with exactly 210 pupils, matching its capacity, and it offers nursery provision for children from age three. The school was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry, receiving 46 applications for 19 places, with 14 of those coming as first preferences. Facilities include a sensory room, sports hall, playing fields, library, gymnasium, art studios and a chapel, and the school runs clubs for drama, book club, film club and art club. Its SEND provisions cover a broad range of needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication, hearing impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. For families whose children need strong SEND support and who value a small, full school with a nursery on site, Maple Grove offers a close-knit setting — but the academic results and Ofsted rating mean it is one to investigate carefully, particularly if strong KS2 outcomes are a priority.

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