The Lea Primary School and Nursery
Moorland Road, Harpenden, AL5 4LE
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Tracey Berry
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Harpenden and Berkhamsted
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 236
- Pupils on roll
- 239
- URN
- 117327
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01582767939
About this school
The Lea Primary School and Nursery is a community primary school in Harpenden. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 239 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 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 93% | 80% | 70% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 23% | 0% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 100% | 90% | 77% |
| Expected standard in maths | 93% | 87% | 77% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 97% | 77% | 73% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 112.0 | 106.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 110.0 | 107.0 | 106.0 |
| Reading progress | +5.70 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +3.00 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +4.20 | - | - |
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 The Lea Primary School and Nursery 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 | 93% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 80% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 70% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 236 |
| 2023/24 | 236 |
| 2024/25 | 227 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Lea Primary School and Nursery compares
The Lea Primary School and Nursery ranked 131st of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 66% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 49% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 70% | 5.5% | 10.7% | 239 | — |
| Manland Primary School | 91% | 2.4% | 3% | 204 | 0.5 miles |
| Sauncey Wood Primary School | 59% | 7% | 27.8% | 147 | 0.7 miles |
| St Nicholas CofE VA Primary School | 91% | 3.1% | 3.9% | 149 | 0.9 miles |
| Harpenden Academy | 81% | 3.9% | 6.5% | 216 | 0.9 miles |
| Roundwood Primary School | 69% | 4.4% | 2.6% | 338 | 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)
- 10.68%
- English as an additional language
- 19.8%
- Overall absence
- 5.46%
- Persistent absence
- 11.73%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Manland Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Harpenden
-
Sauncey Wood Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Harpenden
-
St Nicholas CofE VA Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Harpenden
-
Harpenden Academy0.9 miles
Primary · Harpenden
-
Roundwood Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Harpenden
Other schools in Harpenden
The Lea Primary School and Nursery ranks 8th of the 10 ranked primary schools in Harpenden.
- Crabtree Infants' School Primary
- Crabtree Junior School Primary
- Harpenden Academy Primary
- High Beeches Primary School Primary
- Manland Primary School Primary
- Roundwood Primary School Primary
- Sauncey Wood Primary School Primary
- St Dominic Catholic Primary School Primary
- St Nicholas CofE VA Primary School Primary
- The Grove Infant and Nursery School Primary
- The Grove Junior School Primary
- Wood End School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Lea Primary School and Nursery teach?
- The Lea Primary School and Nursery teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Harpenden.
- Who is the headteacher of The Lea Primary School and Nursery?
- The headteacher of The Lea Primary School and Nursery is Mrs Tracey Berry, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Lea Primary School and Nursery last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Lea Primary School and Nursery, 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 The Lea Primary School and Nursery?
- The Lea Primary School and Nursery has 239 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is The Lea Primary School and Nursery full?
- The Lea Primary School and Nursery has capacity for 236 pupils and 239 on roll (101%), 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 The Lea Primary School and Nursery a faith school?
- No. The Lea Primary School and Nursery has no designated religious character.
- Does The Lea Primary School and Nursery have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records The Lea Primary School and Nursery as having nursery classes.
- How have The Lea Primary School and Nursery's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 93% in 2022/23 and 70% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Lea Primary School and Nursery rank locally?
- The Lea Primary School and Nursery ranked 131st of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 66% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 49% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Lea Primary School and Nursery's absence rate?
- The Lea Primary School and Nursery's overall absence rate is 5.5% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Lea Primary School and Nursery's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Lea Primary School and Nursery'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.