Garston Manor School
Horseshoe Lane, Garston, Watford, WD25 7HR
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Miss Christine deGraft-Hanson
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Watford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 150
- Pupils on roll
- 175
- URN
- 117667
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01923673757
About this school
Garston Manor School is a community special school in Watford. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 175 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 21 October 2022, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 27 | 23 | 30 |
| Attainment 8 score | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.54 -2.08 to -0.99 | -1.50 -2.12 to -0.88 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 4.3% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 4% | 4.3% | 0% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Garston Manor 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 | 0.9 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 1.7 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 0.7 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 150 |
| 2023/24 | 151 |
| 2024/25 | 163 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 44.79%
- English as an additional language
- 12.3%
- Overall absence
- 8.7%
- Persistent absence
- 25.9%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Stanborough Primary School0.7 miles
Independent schools · Watford
-
Stanborough Secondary School0.8 miles
Independent schools · Watford
-
Breakspeare School1.4 miles
Special schools · Abbots Langley
-
Edge Grove School2.4 miles
Independent schools · Watford
-
Gurukula - The Hare Krishna Primary School2.6 miles
Independent schools · Hertfordshire
Other schools in Watford
- Chessbrook Education Support Centre Local authority maintained schools
- Colnbrook School Special schools
- Nisai Virtual Academy Ltd Other types
- Kingswood Nursery School Nursery
- Oxhey Nursery School Nursery
- 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
Common questions
- What year groups does Garston Manor School teach?
- Garston Manor School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a special school in Watford.
- Who is the headteacher of Garston Manor School?
- The headteacher of Garston Manor School is Miss Christine deGraft-Hanson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Garston Manor School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Garston Manor 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 Garston Manor School?
- Garston Manor School has 175 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Garston Manor School full?
- Garston Manor School has capacity for 150 pupils and 175 on roll (117%), 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 Garston Manor School a faith school?
- No. Garston Manor School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does Garston Manor School have?
- The schools register lists Garston Manor School's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Garston Manor School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 0.9 in 2022/23 and 0.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Garston Manor School's absence rate?
- Garston Manor School's overall absence rate is 8.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Garston Manor School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Garston Manor 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.