Holywell Primary School
Catchment Area, Reviews and Key Information

Primary
PUPILS
232
AGES
3 - 11
GENDER
Mixed
TYPE
Community school
SCHOOL GUIDE RATING
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Can I Get My Child Into This School?

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This pupil heat map shows where pupils currently attending the school live.
The concentration of pupils shows likelihood of admission based on distance criteria

Source: All attending pupils National School Census Data, ONS
0300 123 4043

This School Guide heat map has been plotted using official pupil data taken from the last School Census collected by the Department for Education. It is a visualisation of where pupils lived at the time of the annual School Census.

Our heat maps use groups of postcodes, not individual postcodes, and have naturally soft edges. All pupils are included in the mapping (i.e. children with siblings already at the school, high priority pupils and selective and/or religious admissions) but we may have removed statistical ‘outliers’ with more remote postcodes that do not reflect majority admissions.

For some schools, the heat map may be a useful indicator of the catchment area but our heat maps are not the same as catchment area maps. Catchment area maps, published by the school or local authority, are based on geographical admissions criteria and show actual cut-off distances and pre-defined catchment areas for a single admission year.

This information is provided as a guide only. The criteria in which schools use to allocate places in the event that they are oversubscribed can and do vary between schools and over time. These criteria can include distance from the school and sometimes specific catchment areas but can also include, amongst others, priority for siblings, children of a particular faith or specific feeder schools. Living in an area where children have previously attended a school does not guarantee admission to the school in future years. Always check with the school’s own admission authority for the current admission arrangements.

3 steps to help parents gather catchment information for a school:

  1. Look at our school catchment area guide for more information on heat maps. They give a useful indicator of the general areas that admit pupils to the school. This visualisation is based on all attending pupils present at the time of the annual School Census.
  2. Use the link to the Local Authority Contact (above) to find catchment area information based on a single admission year. This is very important if you are considering applying to a school.
  3. On each school page, use the link to visit the school website and find information on individual school admissions criteria. Geographical criteria are only applied after pupils have been admitted on higher priority criteria such as Looked After Children, SEN, siblings, etc.

How Does The School Perform?

Requires Improvement
NATIONAL AVG. 2.09
Ofsted Inspection
(19/04/2023)
Full Report - All Reports
50%
NATIONAL AVG. 60%
% pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics



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Progress Compared With All Other Schools

UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 9% of schools in England) Average (About 67% of schools in England) Above Average (About 6% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 8% of schools in England) UNLOCK Well Below Average (About 10% of schools in England) Below Average (About 11% of schools in England) Average (About 59% of schools in England) Above Average (About 11% of schools in England) Well Above Average (About 9% of schools in England)
Tolpits Lane
Watford
WD18 6LL
01923225188

School Description

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Holywell Primary is a very large school where leaders and governors are working with a noticeable determination to drive up standards and ensure that everyone on the staff has the highest expectations about what pupils can achieve. Many parents I spoke to informally at the start of the day were very complimentary about the quality of teaching and the support available for families. Typical comments included, ‘Everyone is really safe and happy here’, and ‘Communications are good and my child settled in quickly and has made good progress.’ These views were endorsed by the majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and by texting their positive perceptions of the school. Many parents appreciate how easy it is to contact school leaders, many of whom are out on the playground every morning before school, welcoming pupils and talking to parents and carers. Governors know the school well. They recognise the strong focus on school improvement introduced since your appointment. They are actively supporting your efforts to ensure that all teachers share the same high expectations. Furthermore, they understand how your leadership is raising standards right across the school. You have led the school through a period of leadership transition and some important changes to senior posts. You have managed these changes well, and you have ensured that your strong focus on monitoring and staff development has continued. You have been working hard to ensure that every class teacher has clear expectations about the progress that pupils are expected to make. You and other senior leaders carry out regular learning walks to check that classrooms, books, lessons and resources are well organised and helping pupils to learn well. You have also been giving a high priority to improving pupils’ attendance and, as a result, absence reduced across 2016/2017. Your plans show that you know that there is still work to be done to fully achieve your aims. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. They show respect and courtesy to staff and visitors. They are interested in learning and they work diligently to present their work carefully and meet teachers’ expectations. Teachers provide clear explanations so that pupils understand what is expected of them in lessons. Outcomes for pupils at the end of key stage 2 have been lower than national expectations in recent years, although many pupils have made good progress from their starting points. You are fully aware of this and you have been working hard to ensure that progress is even stronger. Standards of work seen in books during the inspection showed that more pupils are now achieving in line with other pupils nationally. The wider curriculum meets pupils’ needs well, and the highly effective, specialist teaching of Spanish and art has resulted in these subjects being particular strengths of the school. Safeguarding is effective. You have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records of staff suitability to work with children are detailed and of good quality. You and the governing body ensure that staff are kept up to date with safeguarding requirements. Staff understand their role in keeping pupils safe. They are well equipped to identify when pupils may be at risk of harm. Safeguarding records, including the large number of files about pupils receiving support from other agencies, are securely maintained. They include comprehensive information about how leaders follow up any concerns. Leaders seek appropriate advice and support from other agencies when the need arises. The pupils I spoke to told me that they feel safe at school. They consider bullying and bad behaviour to be infrequent events and they are confident that any member of staff, not just their teachers, will listen to them if they have concerns. An overwhelming majority of parents agree that pupils are safe and well cared for at the school. Inspection findings To discover whether the school remained good, one of my key lines of enquiry was the actions that leaders have taken to make pupils’ progress consistently strong across key stage 2. In 2015, mathematics progress was too low, and in 2016 reading progress was below average. The situation improved in 2017 when pupils’ progress in both reading and mathematics was broadly average and progress in writing was above the national average. Evidence from the school’s action plans confirms that your leadership team has already identified the need to continue this work. You acknowledge that it is important to ensure that progress in English and mathematics is consistently good every year. Leaders have made good use of professional advice from Herts for Learning, especially in the drive to improve the teaching of English and mathematics. For example, you have introduced a new approach to support teachers with planning the mathematics curriculum, and you have invested wisely in training for subject leaders and teachers. Regular checks, undertaken by senior leaders, ensure that teachers’ expectations are high. You use the information from frequent learning walks to help teachers improve their skills, to confirm that pupils’ books are well presented and to ensure that classroom displays contribute to pupils’ progress. You have introduced new approaches to mentoring, which support the development of teachers. The use of video technology, introduced this term, allows teachers to record lessons then discuss the content with colleagues as part of a professional dialogue. Your strong focus on moderation activities means that teachers and leaders can be confident in the accuracy of information about pupils’ learning. You have provided frequent opportunities for staff to discuss assessment with colleagues in local schools. This is helping to ensure that judgements are reliable. The impact of this work is already evident in the improvements in progress that we saw in pupils’ books. Less experienced teachers, including those who are newly and recently qualified, also receive effective professional development from senior colleagues. In order to improve outcomes in reading, you have invested heavily in new reading books, as well as materials for teaching phonics. Staff have attended additional training, particularly in phonics and in promoting pupils’ skills in inference and deduction. This is proving particularly effective in supporting pupils, especially those who are not yet fluent speakers of English, to be more successful in comprehension activities. My second line of enquiry was the quality of teaching in key stage 2. There have been some inconsistencies in the progress that pupils have made in recent years, especially in English and mathematics. When I visited classrooms, I identified plenty of strengths in the quality of teaching. Most lessons are well planned and learning is clear and well structured. Teachers usually ensure that pupils are interested and engaged in learning activities and, as a result, pupils in most lessons behave well. When a pupil is not concentrating, teachers are usually quick to spot this and take corrective measures. Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well. Relationships are positive and conducive to cooperation and learning. Tasks are generally pitched at a good level with an appropriate balance between consolidation and introduction of a new concept.

Holywell Primary School Parent Reviews



unlock % Parents Recommend This School
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>59, "agree"=>34, "disagree"=>3, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>47, "agree"=>50, "disagree"=>0, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>56, "agree"=>31, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>50, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>44, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>9, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>47, "agree"=>41, "disagree"=>9, "strongly_disagree"=>0, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>47, "agree"=>34, "disagree"=>9, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>6} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>19, "agree"=>59, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>13} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>47, "agree"=>44, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>0} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>44, "agree"=>44, "disagree"=>6, "strongly_disagree"=>3, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know {"strongly_agree"=>44, "agree"=>34, "disagree"=>13, "strongly_disagree"=>6, "dont_know"=>3} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017
Yes No {"yes"=>88, "no"=>13} UNLOCK Figures based on 32 responses up to 29-11-2017

Responses taken from Ofsted Parent View

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