Highover Primary School
Cambridge Road, Hitchin, SG4 0JP
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sophie Driver
- Constituency
- Hitchin
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 420
- Pupils on roll
- 433
- URN
- 117115
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01462622333
About this school
Highover Primary School is a community primary school in Hitchin. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 433 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Early years
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 58 | 60 | 59 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 67% | 67% | 68% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 17% | 13% | 15% |
| Expected standard in reading | 93% | 95% | 86% |
| Expected standard in maths | 93% | 88% | 83% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 91% | 88% | 88% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 111.0 | 107.0 | 108.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 109.0 | 107.0 | 107.0 |
| Reading progress | +4.60 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -1.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +3.70 | - | - |
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 Highover Primary 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 | 67% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 67% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 68% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 3.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 435 |
| 2023/24 | 428 |
| 2024/25 | 434 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Highover Primary School compares
Highover Primary School ranked 145th of 336 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 61% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 97% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 68% | 3.2% | 7.2% | 433 | — |
| Purwell Primary School | 57% | 6.7% | 36.7% | 129 | 0.5 miles |
| St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Hitchin | 68% | 3.7% | 8.5% | 234 | 0.7 miles |
| William Ransom Primary School | 78% | 3.3% | 2.8% | 419 | 0.8 miles |
| Mary Exton Primary School | 40% | 6.1% | 17.1% | 146 | 0.8 miles |
| St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School | 62% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 221 | 0.9 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)
- 7.23%
- English as an additional language
- 12.4%
- Overall absence
- 3.21%
- Persistent absence
- 3.92%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Purwell Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Hitchin
-
St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Hitchin0.7 miles
Primary · Hitchin
-
William Ransom Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Hitchin
-
Mary Exton Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Hitchin
-
St Thomas More Roman Catholic Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Letchworth Garden City
Other schools in Hitchin
Highover Primary School ranks 10th of the 22 ranked primary schools in Hitchin.
- Breachwood Green Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Codicote Church of England Primary School Primary
- Graveley Primary School Primary
- Highbury Infant School and Nursery Primary
- Ickleford Primary School Primary
- Kimpton Primary School Primary
- Mary Exton Primary School Primary
- Offley Endowed Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Oughton Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Our Lady Catholic Primary School Primary
- Pirton School Primary
- Preston Primary School Primary
Recorded changes at this school
Previous headteacher: Mrs Lisa Hayes (until September 2026).
- Headteacher changed from Mrs Lisa Hayes to Mrs Sophie Driver recorded 2 Sep 2026
- Capacity changed from 450 to 420 recorded 2 Sep 2026
- School name changed from Highover Junior Mixed and Infant School to Highover Primary School recorded 2 Sep 2026
Common questions
- What year groups does Highover Primary School teach?
- Highover Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Hitchin.
- Who is the headteacher of Highover Primary School?
- The headteacher of Highover Primary School is Mrs Sophie Driver, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Highover Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Highover Primary 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 Highover Primary School?
- Highover Primary School has 433 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Highover Primary School full?
- Highover Primary School has capacity for 420 pupils and 433 on roll (103%), so it is at or above 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 Highover Primary School a faith school?
- No. Highover Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Highover Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Highover Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Highover Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 67% in 2022/23 and 68% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Highover Primary School rank locally?
- Highover Primary School ranked 145th of 336 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 61% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 97% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Highover Primary School's absence rate?
- Highover Primary School's overall absence rate is 3.2% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Highover Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Highover Primary 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 2 September 2026.