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Hillmead Primary School

Primary · Bishop's Stortford · CM23 4PW

Data updated

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Good

Earlier grade, confirmed by a later ungraded inspection

Ofsted's most recent (ungraded) visit confirmed the school remains Good. Ungraded inspections do not award a new grade.

Inspected 21 March 2024

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

223 pupils · 93% of 240 capacity (January 2026 census)

School type
Community school
Age range
3–11
Gender
Mixed
Free school meals
20.1% of pupils (January 2026)
English as additional language
13.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
SEN support
12.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
EHC plan
7.1% of pupils (2024/2025)
Nursery
Yes
Website
www.hillmead.herts.sch.uk/
URN
117310

In figures

For September 2026 entry, 24 families named it first for 28 Reception places, 0.86 first choices per place. Its last Reception place offered on distance for 2023 entry went to 1907.53 m (≈1.19 mi); distance decided places in 6 of the 12 years of Reception rounds we hold, 2015 to 2026. An ungraded Ofsted inspection on 21 March 2024 confirmed its earlier grade, Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 5.3% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

0.86 first-choice applications per place

28 places offered · 24 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured

Catchment area

Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2023 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 1907.53 m (≈1.19 mi)

measured in a straight line.

Furthest child admitted, by admission rule (2026 entry)

Nearest School
583.29 m (≈0.36 mi)
Not Nearest School
7523.55 m (≈4.67 mi)

Places were not all filled that year, so these distances show how far the furthest child admitted under each rule lived, not how close you needed to be.

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Would you have got in? Check your postcode

One free check a month, no account needed: your postcode against this school's cutoff history. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools you would be inside, and the address check across every school at once.

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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

30 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
77%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
23%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
109
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
108
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school77%
Median of its 12 closest peers63.5%
Hertfordshire average63.8%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.

They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.

SchoolOfstedResult
St Georges Church SchoolWeston-Super-Mare · 135 miles awayGood67%
Harwell Primary SchoolDidcot · 64 miles awayExpected standard62%
Cams Lane Primary SchoolManchester · 156 miles awayGood61%
Hardingstone AcademyNorthampton · 49 miles awayGood56%
Wootton Community Primary SchoolRyde · 99 miles awayGood (2019)59%
Newton Poppleford Primary SchoolSidmouth · 169 miles awayGood71%
Totternhoe Church of England AcademyDunstable · 30 miles awayNeeds attention18%
Theale C.E. Primary SchoolReading · 60 miles awayOutstanding89%
Grove Junior SchoolNailsea · 128 miles awayGood65%
Grasmere Primary SchoolLondon · 24 miles awayStrong standard90%
Westende Junior SchoolWokingham · 52 miles awayGood70%
Kings Copse Primary SchoolSouthampton · 91 miles awayGood59%

It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works

Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)

White British 65% (Hertfordshire 58%, England 60%) · Any other White background 10% (Hertfordshire 11%, England 7%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 4% (Hertfordshire 2%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 3% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 2%) · Asian Indian 3% (Hertfordshire 4%, England 4%) · Asian Chinese 2% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Any other Black background 2% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Any other Mixed background 2% (Hertfordshire 4%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Hertfordshire 3%, England 2%) · Black Caribbean 1% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Hertfordshire 2%, England 5%) · Black African 1% (Hertfordshire 4%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · Not recorded 1% (Hertfordshire 1%, England 1%) · other groups together 1%

Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures

Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
5.3%
England 6.6%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
15.2%
England 17.5%

Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)

11.95 suspensions per 100 pupils and 1 permanent exclusion · England, primary schools: 2.47 suspensions and 0.03 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Hertfordshire: 2.92 suspensions and 0.02 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils

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Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
21.5
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

97% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 3% left the state-funded sector

Vacancies (November 2025)

9.16% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained primaries: 0.18% vacant, 0.36% temporary

Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)

35.7% of teachers took sickness absence, 4.1 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days

Teacher pay (November 2025)

Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £53,614; 18.2% on the leadership pay range · England, primary schools: £50,856, 17.3%

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Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted

Spending per pupil (2025-26)

This school£7,699
Typical primary school£7,202

Where the money went (2025-26)

Share of spending, with the median for primary schools in brackets: Staff 77% (76%) · premises 6% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 9% (8%) · supplies and services 9% (9%) · educational supplies 6% (4%) · bought-in professional services 2% (3%) · catering 4% (5%)

Reserves (2025-26)

Revenue reserve £136,775; in-year balance -£7,025

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Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: council-maintained school finance return, 2025-26, DfE · how spending is compared

Inspection history since 2015

Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
7/10less deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher42.9%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications9.7%18.1%
In managerial or professional work49.4%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways8%18.1%
Residents in very good health59.7%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier82.4%62.3%
Social housing8.9%17.1%
Privately rented8.7%20.5%
Detached houses47.5%22.9%
Flats9%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms39.3%21.1%
Households with no car or van5.7%23.5%

These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01023454 · how to read area figures

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£515,000255 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
Typical range
£410,000–£650,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (144)£636,000
Semi-detached (45)£448,000
Terraced (40)£371,000
Flat (26)£279,500

Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Inside the Reception cutoff distance (1.91 km, 2023 entry): 1,020 sales, median £415,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.

Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

No collision was reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025.

Child pedestrian casualties
0an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
0an urban school averages 5.7
All reported collisions
0an urban school averages 30.5
Of those, serious or fatal
0an urban school averages 6.1

A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted

Nearby schools