Yewtree Primary School

Yewtree Primary School is failing to provide an acceptable standard of education and has been placed in special measures. Safeguarding standards are not met, with leaders having failed to establish an open and positive culture around safeguarding; significant weaknesses remain in record-keeping, oversight of concerns, and the rigour applied to adults from an external organisation who work with pupils. Pupils' achievement is too low, with outcomes well below national averages and longstanding gaps in communication, reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils remain far behind, and persistent absence is high for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Behaviour is a serious concern, with deliberate defiance, dangerous and highly disruptive behaviour that has become embedded; leaders have not regained control, and staff do not apply the behaviour policy consistently.

Strengths

• Staff build warm, trusting relationships with children in the early years, helping them settle and make friends.
• The new specialist provision for pupils with SEND is helping them communicate more clearly and manage emotions with greater confidence.
• Leaders responsible for SEND have introduced new support for pupils with higher levels of need that is having a positive impact.
• Personal, social and health education is generally taught well, with visitors helping pupils learn about topics such as financial literacy.
• Pupils enjoy taking on roles that help the school run smoothly, such as older pupils guiding younger pupils to and from the dining hall.
• Pupils experience fundamental British values in practice, for example through voting for their house captain.
• There is a range of extracurricular clubs and visits, and pupil premium funding helps ensure disadvantaged pupils are not excluded.
• Recent improvements to the start-of-day routine and the introduction of breakfast bagels help pupils enter school calmly and have contributed to improved overall attendance.
• Leaders have acted on external advice to improve attendance, with staff checking more carefully whether absences are appropriate.

Areas for Improvement

• Safeguarding standards are not met; leaders have not ensured an open and positive culture that adequately protects children from harm.
• Leaders' oversight of safeguarding concerns is weak, and record-keeping is not strong enough to provide a complete picture of concerns and actions.
• Too many pupils exhibit dangerous and highly disruptive behaviour, and leaders' responses are not consistently robust enough to keep pupils safe.
• Pupils' achievement is too low, with outcomes well below national averages and too few pupils meeting expected standards.
• Disadvantaged pupils remain far behind their peers, and the pupil premium strategy is not raising achievement.
• Persistent absence is too high for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, and part-time timetables have been used for long periods without sufficient oversight.
• Teaching is not routinely based on strong evidence about how pupils learn, and gaps in knowledge grow as pupils move through the school.
• Leaders' actions to improve teaching have not been successful, and a breakdown in trust between some leaders and staff is slowing improvement.
• The early years curriculum and teaching are inconsistent, particularly in early writing and vocabulary development.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND are not used effectively by adults, meaning some pupils struggle to complete their work.
• Safeguarding and behaviour issues are impacting pupils' wellbeing, and leaders do not hear enough pupil voice.
• Some pupils' social skills are not developing as they should, and too many become physical without sufficient support to manage conflict.
• Repeated poor behaviour can tip into bullying, and actions taken do not routinely stop it from continuing.
• Leaders and governors do not set out clear measures of success, reducing focus and making it harder to challenge progress.
• Staff workload and wellbeing suffer because leaders divide their focus across too many issues at once.
• Professional learning is not arranged well enough to develop staff expertise.
• Some parents and carers have lost confidence in the school and its links with the community.

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 Yewtree Primary School attended 90.9% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 31.4% 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, 5.5% of pupils at Yewtree 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 Yewtree Primary School had 15.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.3% 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, 18.1% of pupils at Yewtree Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.7% 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 Yewtree Primary School received £8,218 and spent £8,407 for each of its 315 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £516,000 (£1,640 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 Hemel Hempstead · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Yewtree Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Yewtree Primary School is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Yewtree Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Yewtree Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Yewtree Primary School have?

Yewtree Primary School has 321 pupils on roll.

What age range does Yewtree Primary School cover?

Yewtree Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 17% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Yewtree Primary School?

Yewtree Primary School is at Fletcher Way, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5QR.