Priors Wood Primary School
Cozens Road, Ware, SG12 7HZ
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Alan Bishop
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Hertford and Stortford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 231
- Pupils on roll
- 231
- URN
- 117271
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01920464135
About this school
Priors Wood Primary School is a community primary school in Ware. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 231 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
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong 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 | 29 | 17 | 25 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 55% | 65% | 48% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 72% | 82% | 76% |
| Expected standard in maths | 66% | 76% | 76% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 66% | 76% | 64% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 107.0 | 107.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 105.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -4.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -4.30 | - | - |
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 Priors Wood 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 | 55% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 65% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 48% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 203 |
| 2023/24 | 201 |
| 2024/25 | 222 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Priors Wood Primary School compares
Priors Wood Primary School ranked 288th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 19% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 47% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48% | 5.5% | 20.4% | 231 | — |
| Larkspur Academy | 82% | 8.9% | 59% | 64 | 0.4 miles |
| Christ Church CofE (VA) Primary School and Nursery | 54% | 5.9% | 18.4% | 332 | 0.7 miles |
| St Mary's Voluntary Controlled Church of England Junior School | 65% | 3.7% | 14% | 231 | 0.8 miles |
| Kingshill Infant School | — | 4.3% | 5.8% | 206 | 0.8 miles |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School | 68% | 4.1% | 8.8% | 202 | 1.1 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)
- 20.41%
- English as an additional language
- 5.9%
- Overall absence
- 5.5%
- Persistent absence
- 14.12%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Larkspur Academy0.4 miles
Primary · Ware
-
Christ Church CofE (VA) Primary School and Nursery0.7 miles
Primary · Ware
- 0.8 miles
-
Kingshill Infant School0.8 miles
Primary · Ware
-
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Ware
Other schools in Ware
Priors Wood Primary School ranks 13th of the 14 ranked primary schools in Ware.
- Christ Church CofE (VA) Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Hunsdon Junior Mixed and Infant School Primary
- Jenyns First School and Nursery Primary
- Kingshill Infant School Primary
- Larkspur Academy Primary
- Little Hadham Primary School Primary
- Little Munden Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- Puller Memorial, Church of England, Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Roger De Clare First CofE School Primary
- Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Primary
- St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Primary
- St Catherine's Church of England Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Priors Wood Primary School teach?
- Priors Wood Primary School teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Ware.
- Who is the headteacher of Priors Wood Primary School?
- The headteacher of Priors Wood Primary School is Mr Alan Bishop, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Priors Wood Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Priors Wood 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 Priors Wood Primary School?
- Priors Wood Primary School has 231 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Priors Wood Primary School full?
- Priors Wood Primary School has capacity for 231 pupils and 231 on roll (100%), 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 Priors Wood Primary School a faith school?
- No. Priors Wood Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Priors Wood Primary School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Priors Wood Primary School as having nursery classes.
- How have Priors Wood Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 55% in 2022/23 and 48% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Priors Wood Primary School rank locally?
- Priors Wood Primary School ranked 288th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 19% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 47% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Priors Wood Primary School's absence rate?
- Priors Wood Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.5% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Priors Wood Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Priors Wood 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 30 June 2026.