Hollybush Primary School

Hollybush Primary School is a community primary school that was inspected in January 2025. This was its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and under current arrangements it did not receive an overall effectiveness grade. The school is judged to require improvement in the quality of education and in leadership and management, while behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision are good. Pupils are generally happy and behave well, and relationships with adults are positive and caring.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school and have positive, caring relationships with adults.
• Pupils generally behave well, and bullying is rare and dealt with promptly.
• Pupils develop a strong understanding of how to keep themselves safe online and in the community.
• The school provides high-quality pastoral support and pupils feel well looked after.
• Pupils enjoy a broad range of clubs, educational visits and roles of responsibility.
• The early years environment is calm and engaging, with strong support for children's communication and vocabulary.
• Staff identify pupils with SEND accurately and adapt lessons so they can access the same curriculum as peers.
• The 'nest' provision is highly effective, with highly trained staff and a bespoke curriculum that helps pupils thrive.
• Staff are overwhelmingly positive about workload, well-being and the training they receive.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum delivery is inconsistent, and not all subjects are taught as intended.
• Some pupils, including pupils with SEND, develop gaps in knowledge because learning is not always sequenced logically.
• Teachers do not consistently check what pupils know, remember and can do, so pupils are not always sufficiently challenged.
• The reading curriculum is still being developed, and pupils falling behind in early reading are not identified quickly enough.
• Some pupils struggle to blend sounds into words and are not as confident or fluent in reading as the school would like.
• Governors do not consistently ask sufficiently probing questions to hold leaders fully to account.

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 Hollybush Primary School attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.2% 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, 2.9% of pupils at Hollybush Primary 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 Hollybush Primary School had 15.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 31.7% 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, 20.0% of pupils at Hollybush Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 8.9% 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 Hollybush Primary School received £9,080 and spent £10,154 for each of its 185 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £49,000 (-£264 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Hertford · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Hollybush Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Hollybush Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Hollybush Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Hollybush Primary School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Hollybush Primary School have?

Hollybush Primary School has 190 pupils on roll.

What age range does Hollybush Primary School cover?

Hollybush Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Hollybush Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 32% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Hollybush Primary School?

Hollybush Primary School is at Fordwich Rise, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 2DF.