Layston Church of England First School
Primary · Buntingford · SG9 9EU
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 31 October 2023
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
124 pupils · 83% of 150 capacity
- School type
- Voluntary controlled school
- Age range
- 5–9
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Free school meals
- 21.8% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 4.3% of pupils
- SEN support
- 18% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 2.2% of pupils
- Website
- www.layston.herts.sch.uk/
- URN
- 117390
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
0.89 first-choice applications per place9 places offered · 8 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 861.07 m (≈0.54 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)
59% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 10% moved to another state school · 32% 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
- 31 October 2023: Requires improvement
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.