Windermere Primary School

About Windermere Primary School

Windermere Primary School in St Albans received a Requires Improvement rating from Ofsted following its June 2025 inspection, a downgrade from the Good rating it held in 2018. The inspection judged leadership and management, quality of education, and early years provision as requiring improvement, while behaviour and attitudes, and personal development were rated Good. The most telling academic metric is the Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard: only 45% of pupils achieved this, compared with the Hertfordshire local authority average of 64%. That places the school 38th out of 40 primary schools in St Albans and in the bottom 5% locally. Just 7% of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects. Reading and maths average scores were 105 and 104 respectively, both slightly below the national average of 105, and while 66% met the expected standard in reading and maths individually, writing lagged at 55%.

The school’s parent view survey, based on 26 responses between September 2024 and September 2025, paints a mixed picture. 81% of parents would recommend the school. Strong majorities agreed their child is happy (80% strongly agree or agree) and feels safe (81%), and 92% agreed their child does well. However, only 50% agreed the school has high expectations for their child, and 42% agreed concerns are dealt with properly. The school is oversubscribed for 2025/26, with 39 applications for 10 places and 6 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.9. This suggests demand remains strong despite the Ofsted rating. The school has a higher-than-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 34.8%, and its 158 pupils fill 75% of its 210-capacity site.

Windermere offers a broad range of facilities including a library, sports hall, playing fields, art studios and music rooms, plus clubs such as film, drama, choir, science, chess and gardening. Sports include athletics, netball, gymnastics and cross country. The school has identified SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families considering alternatives, the nearest Outstanding-rated primary is Cunningham Hill Junior School, 0.4 km away. Windermere may suit parents who value the strong personal development and behaviour noted by Ofsted, and who are comfortable with a school that is actively working on improvements to its academic delivery and leadership. The high oversubscription suggests many local families still see it as a viable option.

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