Batchwood School
Townsend Drive, St Albans, AL3 5RP
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Executive Headteacher
- Mr Ross Whitaker
- SEN provision
- SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 108
- Pupils on roll
- 111
- URN
- 117674
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727868021
About this school
Batchwood School is a community special school in St Albans. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 111 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Batchwood 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
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 17 | 20 | 23 |
| Attainment 8 score | 8.2 | 8.7 | 11.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.73 -2.44 to -1.01 | -2.09 -2.74 to -1.43 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 5% | 8.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | 5% | 17.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
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 Batchwood 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 | 8.2 | 44.6 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 8.7 | 44.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 11.8 | 44.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 27.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 23.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 25.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 101 |
| 2023/24 | 107 |
| 2024/25 | 111 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report14 April 2026
- 1 February 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 54.05%
- English as an additional language
- 0.9%
- Overall absence
- 25.15%
- Persistent absence
- 56.76%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Heathlands School0.4 miles
Special schools · St Albans
-
St Albans High School for Girls0.7 miles
Independent schools
-
St Albans School1.0 miles
Independent schools · St Albans
-
St Albans Independent College1.2 miles
Independent schools · St Albans
-
St Columba's College1.6 miles
Independent schools · St Albans
Other schools in St Albans
- Heathlands School Special schools
- Links Academy Academies
- St Luke's School Special schools
- Watling View School Special schools
- Muriel Green Nursery School Nursery
- 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
Common questions
- What ages does Batchwood School teach?
- Batchwood School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a special school in St Albans.
- Who is the executive headteacher of Batchwood School?
- The executive headteacher of Batchwood School is Mr Ross Whitaker, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Batchwood School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Batchwood 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 Batchwood School?
- Batchwood School has 111 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Batchwood School full?
- Batchwood School has capacity for 108 pupils and 111 on roll (103%), 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 Batchwood School a faith school?
- No. Batchwood School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does Batchwood School have?
- The schools register lists Batchwood School's special educational needs provision as: SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Batchwood School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 8.2 in 2022/23 and 11.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Batchwood School's absence rate?
- Batchwood School's overall absence rate is 25.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Batchwood School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Batchwood 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.