St Meryl School
The Mead, Carpenders Park, Watford, WD19 5BT
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Craig Davies
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- South West Hertfordshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 240
- Pupils on roll
- 219
- URN
- 117166
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02084281695
About this school
St Meryl School is a community primary school in Watford. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 219 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Meryl School, and its latest judgement is set out 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 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 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 53% | 50% | 57% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 7% | 17% |
| Expected standard in reading | 83% | 70% | 67% |
| Expected standard in maths | 87% | 70% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 70% | 67% | 63% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 104.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 106.0 | 103.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -5.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +0.70 | - | - |
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 St Meryl 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 | 53% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 50% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 57% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 232 |
| 2023/24 | 232 |
| 2024/25 | 227 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Meryl School compares
St Meryl School ranked 235th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 57% | 4.9% | 11.4% | 219 | — |
| Warren Dell Primary School | 73% | 5.5% | 27.5% | 264 | 0.6 miles |
| Woodhall Primary School | 39% | 5.6% | 41.6% | 76 | 0.6 miles |
| Oxhey Wood Primary School | 75% | 6.1% | 31.7% | 387 | 0.7 miles |
| St Joseph Catholic Primary School | 68% | 4.8% | 14.8% | 239 | 0.8 miles |
| Greenfields Primary School | 67% | 6.7% | 24.1% | 212 | 1.0 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)
- 11.44%
- English as an additional language
- 48.9%
- Overall absence
- 4.89%
- Persistent absence
- 9.84%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Warren Dell Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Watford
-
Woodhall Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Watford
-
Oxhey Wood Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Watford
-
St Joseph Catholic Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Watford
-
Greenfields Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Watford
Other schools in Watford
St Meryl School ranks 25th of the 29 ranked primary schools in Watford.
- Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Ascot Road Primary School Primary
- Beechfield School Primary
- Bromet Primary School Primary
- Cassiobury Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Cassiobury Junior School Primary
- Central Primary School Primary
- Chater Infant School Primary
- Chater Junior School Primary
- Cherry Tree Primary School Primary
- Coates Way JMI and Nursery School Primary
- Field Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Meryl School teach?
- St Meryl School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Watford.
- Who is the headteacher of St Meryl School?
- The headteacher of St Meryl School is Mr Craig Davies, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Meryl School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Meryl 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 many pupils are at St Meryl School?
- St Meryl School has 219 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is St Meryl School full?
- St Meryl School has capacity for 240 pupils and 219 on roll (91%), 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 St Meryl School a faith school?
- No. St Meryl School has no designated religious character.
- Does St Meryl School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records St Meryl School as having nursery classes.
- How have St Meryl School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 53% in 2022/23 and 57% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Meryl School compare with other schools in Hertfordshire?
- St Meryl School ranked 235th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 34% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Meryl School's absence rate?
- St Meryl School's overall absence rate is 4.9% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Meryl School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Meryl 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.