Cowley Hill School
Winstre Road, Borehamwood, WD6 5DP
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Miss Louise Thomas
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Hertsmere
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 465
- Pupils on roll
- 416
- URN
- 117099
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02089532218
About this school
Cowley Hill School is a community primary school in Borehamwood. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 416 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 60 | 55 | 57 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 65% | 65% | 75% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 15% | 16% | 12% |
| Expected standard in reading | 85% | 76% | 81% |
| Expected standard in maths | 82% | 69% | 84% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 77% | 67% | 75% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 106.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 105.0 | 106.0 |
| Reading progress | +2.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.50 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Cowley Hill School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Hertfordshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 65% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 65% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 75% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 436 |
| 2023/24 | 441 |
| 2024/25 | 424 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Cowley Hill School compares
Cowley Hill School ranked 92nd of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 78% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 75% | 5.8% | 27.8% | 416 | — |
| Woodlands Primary School | 66% | 7.5% | 35% | 218 | 0.1 miles |
| St Teresa Catholic Primary School | 63% | 4.3% | 15.5% | 196 | 0.3 miles |
| Parkside Community Primary School | 59% | 5.1% | 45.2% | 213 | 0.5 miles |
| Meryfield Primary School | 58% | 5.4% | 25.4% | 450 | 0.6 miles |
| Monksmead School | 48% | 5.8% | 17.1% | 208 | 0.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 27.82%
- English as an additional language
- 44.1%
- Overall absence
- 5.78%
- Persistent absence
- 16.48%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Woodlands Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Borehamwood
-
St Teresa Catholic Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Borehamwood
-
Parkside Community Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Borehamwood
-
Meryfield Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Borehamwood
-
Monksmead School0.8 miles
Primary · Borehamwood
Other schools in Borehamwood
Cowley Hill School ranks 2nd of the 10 ranked primary schools in Borehamwood.
- Kenilworth Primary School Primary
- Meryfield Primary School Primary
- Monksmead School Primary
- Parkside Community Primary School Primary
- Saffron Green Primary School Primary
- St Teresa Catholic Primary School Primary
- Summerswood Primary School Primary
- Woodlands Primary School Primary
- Yavneh Primary School Primary
- Elstree Screen Arts Academy Secondary
- Hertswood Academy Secondary
- Yavneh College Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Cowley Hill School teach?
- Cowley Hill School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Borehamwood.
- Who is the headteacher of Cowley Hill School?
- The headteacher of Cowley Hill School is Miss Louise Thomas, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Cowley Hill School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Cowley Hill School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Cowley Hill School?
- Cowley Hill School has 416 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Cowley Hill School full?
- Cowley Hill School has capacity for 465 pupils and 416 on roll (89%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Cowley Hill School a faith school?
- No. Cowley Hill School has no designated religious character.
- Does Cowley Hill School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Cowley Hill School as having nursery classes.
- How have Cowley Hill School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 65% in 2022/23 and 75% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Cowley Hill School rank locally?
- Cowley Hill School ranked 92nd of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 78% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Cowley Hill School's absence rate?
- Cowley Hill School's overall absence rate is 5.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Cowley Hill School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Cowley Hill School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.