Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School

Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School continues to perform well, achieving a good rating overall. Pupils are happy and feel safe, with strong relationships fostered between staff and students. The school has made considerable efforts to enhance its curriculum over the past three years, leading to strong progress in many subjects. However, areas still need improvement, particularly in ensuring that all subjects are uniformly taught and assessed in alignment with the school's theoretical knowledge progression. This is the first inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the context is important as leaders adapt to new challenges.

Strengths

• High expectations for learning and behaviour.
• Strong support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Effective phonics instruction with strong language development.
• Pupils show pride in their work and progress.
• Wide range of extracurricular activities.
• Good relationships among pupils and staff.
• Effective safeguarding measures in place.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistencies in phonics book matching.
• Some curriculum subjects lack precise alignment with knowledge progression statements.
• Assessment practices focus on task completion instead of quality of knowledge.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School attended 96.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.0% of pupils at Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School had 23.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 16.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 19.6% of pupils at Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School received £6,831 and spent £6,982 for each of its 213 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £158,000 (£741 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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• Secondary Schools

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What is Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School is Good, from an inspection in May 2023.

When was Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School last inspected by Ofsted?

Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School was last inspected in May 2023.

How many pupils does Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School have?

Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School has 235 pupils on roll.

What age range does Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School cover?

Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 73% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School?

Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery School is at Rectory Lane, Watton-At-Stone, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 3SG.