St John's CofE Primary School

About St John's CofE Primary School

St John's CofE Primary School sits within Hertfordshire, a local authority with 401 primary schools, and ranks 208th among them. In the more immediate Welwyn Hatfield area, it places 23rd out of 34 primary schools, placing it in the bottom half locally. The top-performing peers in the borough include Little Gaddesden Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harvey Road Primary School, and The Russell School, all of which score significantly higher on the same ranking metric. St John's is a Church of England state primary for mixed genders, serving children from age 3 to 11, and currently has 220 pupils against a capacity of 235. The school has nursery provision but no sixth form. Its most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in 2023, confirmed that the school remains Good, a notable improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2013, when it was rated Requires Improvement. Leadership and management were also judged Good.

Academically, St John's performs around the local average but with some variation across subjects. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 60% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, slightly below the Hertfordshire LA average of 64%. The school’s ranking nationally places it in the bottom 50% of primaries, at the 56th percentile. However, individual subject scores are stronger: 87% reached the expected standard in reading, with an average scaled score of 109, and 77% did so in maths, with an average score of 107. Writing was the weakest area, with 70% at expected and only 20% working at a higher standard. At the higher standard across all three subjects, just 17% of pupils achieved that level. The school has no Progress 8 data available, so it is not possible to measure how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a gymnasium, playing fields, a library, a chapel, and an outdoor playground. Sports on offer include athletics, swimming, cricket, dance, netball and cross country, and there are clubs such as science, eco, chess and film club. SEND provision covers specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health support, and other disabilities. Admissions for 2025/26 show the school is oversubscribed: 69 applications for 25 places, with 21 first-preference offers made from 21 first-preference applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.76. This suggests strong local demand, particularly from families who prioritise a Church of England setting. St John’s will suit parents looking for a smaller primary with nursery provision, a clear religious character, and a broad extracurricular offer, even if its academic outcomes are more mixed than the top-performing peers in Welwyn Hatfield.

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