St John's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School, Lemsford

About St John's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School, Lemsford

St John's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School, Lemsford, is a small state primary in Hertfordshire, tucked into the Welwyn Hatfield borough. It ranks 28th out of 34 primary schools in the local authority area, placing it in the bottom half of its cohort. For context, the top-performing local peers include Little Gaddesden Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School and Harvey Road Primary School, both of which achieve a perfect ranking score of 100, alongside The Russell School at 97. St John's sits further down the list, with a ranking score of 50. The school is also one of 401 state primary schools in Hertfordshire, where 45 schools currently hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Countess Anne Church of England School, located 3.6 kilometres away. This landscape gives parents a clear sense of the competitive field St John's operates within.

Academically, the school's most recent Key Stage 2 results from the 2023/24 academic year show a mixed picture. The percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 50%, notably below the local authority average of 64%. In individual subjects, 69% met the expected standard in reading and 63% in writing, while maths was lower at 56%. At the higher standard, 25% achieved in reading, but only 6% did so in both maths and writing. The average reading score was 104 and maths 100. Ofsted last inspected the school in May 2023, confirming it remains Good overall, with leadership and management also rated Good. This was an ungraded inspection, following a full graded inspection in June 2014 that gave the same Good rating. The school's previous inspection in 2009 had rated it Outstanding, so the current Good grade represents a step down from that earlier peak.

The school is heavily oversubscribed for Reception places in the 2025/26 academic year, with 52 applications for just 14 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.71. Only 9 first-preference offers were made. St John's is a Church of England school with a chapel on site, and its facilities include a library, playing fields, a forest school area, a gymnasium and an outdoor playground. It offers clubs such as drama, film, art, science and book club, plus sports including netball, cross country, athletics and dance. The school has identified SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health, and autistic spectrum disorder. With only 103 pupils on roll against a capacity of 105, and 7.8% eligible for free school meals, this is a tight-knit, faith-based primary that suits families seeking a small village-school feel within commuting distance of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield.

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