How Wood Primary and Nursery School
Spooners Drive, Park Street, St Albans, AL2 2HU
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs CYNTHIA ROWE NAOMI PARKINS
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 220
- Pupils on roll
- 215
- URN
- 117235
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727768885
About this school
How Wood Primary and Nursery School is a community primary school in St Albans. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 215 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected How Wood Primary and Nursery School, and its latest judgement is set out 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- 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 | 26 | 27 | 26 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 46% | 56% | 62% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 7% | 4% |
| Expected standard in reading | 50% | 70% | 77% |
| Expected standard in maths | 50% | 59% | 77% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 62% | 56% | 81% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 99.0 | 104.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 99.0 | 102.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -5.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -0.60 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -5.90 | - | - |
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 How Wood Primary and Nursery 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 | 46% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 56% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 62% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 220 |
| 2023/24 | 224 |
| 2024/25 | 223 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How How Wood Primary and Nursery School compares
How Wood Primary and Nursery School ranked 205th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 45% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 41% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 62% | 5.9% | 15.2% | 215 | — |
| Park Street Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | 67% | 6% | 23.3% | 153 | 0.2 miles |
| Killigrew Primary and Nursery School | 78% | 4.3% | 7.9% | 412 | 0.9 miles |
| Mandeville Primary School | 75% | 6.6% | 29.6% | 340 | 1.2 miles |
| St Adrian Roman Catholic Primary School | 80% | 4.2% | 11.3% | 194 | 1.2 miles |
| Mount Pleasant Lane Primary School | 53% | 5.2% | 13.6% | 200 | 1.8 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 15.23%
- English as an additional language
- 9%
- Overall absence
- 5.89%
- Persistent absence
- 14.61%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Park Street Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Killigrew Primary and Nursery School0.9 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Mandeville Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
St Adrian Roman Catholic Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Mount Pleasant Lane Primary School1.8 miles
Primary · St Albans
Other schools in St Albans
How Wood Primary and Nursery School ranks 27th of the 31 ranked primary schools in St Albans.
- Aboyne Lodge Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Alban City School Primary
- Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Bernards Heath Junior School Primary
- Bowmansgreen Primary School Primary
- Camp Primary and Nursery School Primary
- Colney Heath Primary School Primary
- Cunningham Hill Infant School Primary
- Cunningham Hill Junior School Primary
- Fleetville Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Fleetville Junior School Primary
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does How Wood Primary and Nursery School teach?
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in St Albans.
- Who is the headteacher of How Wood Primary and Nursery School?
- The headteacher of How Wood Primary and Nursery School is Mrs CYNTHIA ROWE NAOMI PARKINS, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has How Wood Primary and Nursery School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected How Wood Primary and Nursery 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 How Wood Primary and Nursery School?
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School has 215 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is How Wood Primary and Nursery School full?
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School has capacity for 220 pupils and 215 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is How Wood Primary and Nursery School a faith school?
- No. How Wood Primary and Nursery School has no designated religious character.
- Does How Wood Primary and Nursery School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records How Wood Primary and Nursery School as having nursery classes.
- How have How Wood Primary and Nursery School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 46% in 2022/23 and 62% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does How Wood Primary and Nursery School compare with other schools in Hertfordshire?
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School ranked 205th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 45% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 41% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is How Wood Primary and Nursery School's absence rate?
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School's overall absence rate is 5.9% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are How Wood Primary and Nursery School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, How Wood Primary and Nursery 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.