The Grove Infant and Nursery School
Primary · Harpenden · AL5 1QD
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 7 November 2023
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
243 pupils · 90% of 270 capacity
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 3–7
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 2.6% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 8.3% of pupils
- SEN support
- 10.6% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 1.1% of pupils
- Nursery
- Yes
- URN
- 117281
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
0.86 first-choice applications per place59 places offered · 51 first-choice applications · roughly balanced
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.
Admissions cutoff distance: Reception
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 1674.68 m (≈1.04 mi)
measured in a straight line.
Cutoff distance by entry year
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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority (source). Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.
Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)
Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
87% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 4% moved to another state school · 8% left the state-funded sector
School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Spending per pupil
Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history since 2015
- 7 November 2023: Outstanding
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.