Maple Grove Primary School

Maple Grove Primary School is a welcoming and caring school where pupils feel safe, behave well and benefit from strong early years provision and a well-planned personal development programme. Safeguarding standards are met. Pupils enjoy learning, get on well together and have access to a broad range of clubs, visits and wider experiences. Early years and personal development are particular strengths, with children settling quickly and developing confidence, language and early reading skills. However, the school has significant areas needing attention. Achievement has been below expected standards for some time, including key stage 2 outcomes and the Year 4 multiplication tables check. Curriculum and teaching are not consistently effective across all classes and subjects, and some pupils, including pupils with SEND, do not receive support that is well matched to their needs. Attendance is below national figures and persistent absence remains too high, although leaders have introduced several actions to improve this. Leaders understand the school's priorities and have taken positive steps, such as improving phonics and disadvantaged pupils' attainment, but these improvements are not yet consistent across the school. Inclusion processes need to be more consistently applied, and relationships with some parents and carers need strengthening. Overall, the school has real strengths in early years, personal development and behaviour, but it must secure more consistent teaching, SEND support, attendance and achievement for all pupils.

Strengths

• Early years provision is a high priority and gives children a positive start.
• Staff build language and communication from the start and teach phonics and handwriting well.
• Personal development and wellbeing are well planned, including relationships, health and safety education.
• Pupils behave well, show positive attitudes and treat each other with care and kindness.
• Bullying is rare and staff deal with incidents quickly and effectively.
• Leaders understand the school's strengths and priorities and involve staff in improvement.
• Governors provide support and challenge and ensure resources align with priorities.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, visits and experiences beyond lessons.
• Leaders use attendance tracking and pastoral support to improve attendance.
• Pupils with EHC plans generally receive appropriate support.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement has been below expected standards for some time, including at the end of key stage 2 and in the Year 4 multiplication tables check.
• Some pupils with barriers to learning, including some with SEND, do not achieve as well as they should because teaching sometimes does not meet their needs.
• Teaching approaches are not consistently implemented across classes and subjects.
• Some teachers do not use clear models or explain ideas accurately, so pupils do not always learn key knowledge well.
• The graduated approach for SEND is not used consistently, with support not always matched to needs or reviewed for impact.
• Attendance remains below national figures and persistent absence is above national.
• Some pupils are still absent too frequently and their attendance is not improving quickly.
• Leaders have not secured consistent improvements in attendance or achievement for some pupils, including those with SEND.
• Communication and consistency with parents and carers need strengthening.

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 Maple Grove Primary School attended 92.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 20.1% 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, 3.8% of pupils at Maple Grove 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 Maple Grove Primary School had 19.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.8% 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, 18.4% of pupils at Maple Grove Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.8% 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 Maple Grove Primary School received £8,320 and spent £8,291 for each of its 202 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £220,000 (£1,090 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
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All schools in Hemel Hempstead · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Maple Grove Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Maple Grove Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Maple Grove Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Maple Grove Primary School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Maple Grove Primary School have?

Maple Grove Primary School has 206 pupils on roll.

What age range does Maple Grove Primary School cover?

Maple Grove Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 36% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Maple Grove Primary School?

Maple Grove Primary School is at St Agnell's Lane, Grove Hill, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7BG.