Alban City School

Alban City School continues to demonstrate good performance across various domains. Pupils express excitement upon arriving at school, reflecting a positive atmosphere where they feel safe and valued. The school offers a broad and ambitious curriculum, promoting strong progress among students. With a focus on inclusivity, the school supports new pupils, including those joining from abroad, contributing to a welcoming community. Overall, parents and staff commend the school's leadership for fostering open communication and prioritizing professional development.

Strengths

• Pupils are enthusiastic about the wide range of academic and extracurricular opportunities.
• A strong focus on developing teachers' subject knowledge to support effective teaching.
• Positive classroom environments foster a strong focus on learning.
• Robust systems in place for identifying and supporting pupils with SEND.
• Effective safeguarding practices ensure pupils learn how to stay safe in various contexts.

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, teachers do not consistently check pupil understanding adequately, leading to unaddressed gaps in 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 Alban City School attended 96.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 6.4% 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, 0.8% of pupils at Alban City 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 Alban City School had 20.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 12.6% 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, 13.4% of pupils at Alban City School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.9% 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 2024–25 Alban City School received £7,049 and spent £7,146 for each of its 384 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £254,000 (£661 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of Ambition Education Trust, income was £8,105 and spending £7,965 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in St Albans · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

Alban City School is part of Ambition Education Trust, which runs 11 schools. The nearest others:

• Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School St Albans
• Verulam School St Albans
• St Albans Girls' School St Albans
• Wheatfields Junior Mixed School St Albans
• Wheatfields Infants' and Nursery School St. Albans
• Sandringham School St Albans
• Skyswood Primary & Nursery School St Albans
• Beech Hyde Primary School and Nursery St. Albans
• The Adeyfield Academy Hemel Hempstead
• Ridgeway Academy Welwyn Garden City

What is Alban City School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Alban City School is Good, from an inspection in July 2023.

When was Alban City School last inspected by Ofsted?

Alban City School was last inspected in July 2023.

How many pupils does Alban City School have?

Alban City School has 381 pupils on roll.

What age range does Alban City School cover?

Alban City School for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Alban City School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 77% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Alban City School?

Alban City School is at 7 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3RR.