Harpenden Academy
Primary · Harpenden · AL5 4EL
Last grade Ofsted published, no newer grade exists
Ofsted graded this school Good in 2019. Every inspection since has been ungraded, and an ungraded inspection cannot change a grade. The most recent found “Improved significantly”. Ofsted's current data file lists only graded inspections from September 2019 onwards, so this grade has dropped out of it, but it is still the school's grade of record, and still on Ofsted's own report page. It is old, so weigh it against the more recent evidence on this page.
Inspected 6 June 2019
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
216 pupils
- School type
- Free schools
- Age range
- 4–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 5.1% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 17.3% of pupils
- SEN support
- 10.3% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 3.7% of pupils
- Website
- www.harpendenacademy.co.uk
- URN
- 143648
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
1.00 first-choice applications per place30 places offered · 30 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 8964.75 m (≈5.57 mi)
measurement method not stated by the council.
Cutoff by admission criterion (2026 entry)
- Nearest School
- 479.02 m (≈0.30 mi)
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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.
Compare admissions across the area: Harpenden school admissions · Hertfordshire school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
32 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.
Schools with a similar intake
Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025
On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.
The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.
The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.
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)
67% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 33% 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, academy 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
- 4 February 2025: Improved significantly
- 6 June 2019: Good
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 8/10less deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 9/10among the least deprived fifth of England
English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 58.1% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 8.6% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 54.8% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 7.3% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 53.9% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 55.7% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 12.6% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 31.7% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 18.8% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 57.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 18.6% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 22.7% | 23.5% |
Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01023701 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,635 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £828,500354 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
- Typical range
- £431,000–£1,293,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are among the dearest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. 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
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 6an urban school averages 5.8
- All reported collisions
- 33an urban school averages 30.6
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 5an urban school averages 6.1
Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.