Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School
Townsend Drive, St Albans, AL3 5RL
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Paul Sutton
- Sponsor
- Ambition Education Trust
- Constituency
- St Albans
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 570
- Pupils on roll
- 430
- URN
- 148434
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01727890440
About this school
Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School is a primary academy in St Albans. It teaches children aged 5 to 11 and has 430 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's most recent visit was a short inspection on 11 December 2024, where inspectors found that standards have been maintained. 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 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 89 | 90 | 86 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 65% | 70% | 69% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 12% | 11% | 13% |
| Expected standard in reading | 85% | 80% | 78% |
| Expected standard in maths | 76% | 82% | 81% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 82% | 86% | 78% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 108.0 | 107.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 106.0 | 106.0 |
| Reading progress | +2.60 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.50 | - | - |
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 Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant 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 | 65% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 70% | 60.6% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 69% | 61% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 567 |
| 2023/24 | 525 |
| 2024/25 | 480 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School compares
Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School ranked 140th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 63% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 66% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 69% | 4.8% | 14.2% | 430 | — |
| Bernards Heath Junior School | 78% | 4.6% | 8.8% | 353 | 0.4 miles |
| Margaret Wix Primary School | 61% | 5.3% | 34.5% | 167 | 0.5 miles |
| Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School | — | 4.9% | 6.7% | 279 | 0.5 miles |
| Maple Primary School | 93% | 4% | 5.6% | 214 | 0.6 miles |
| Aboyne Lodge Junior Mixed and Infant School | 66% | 4.8% | 11.7% | 198 | 0.6 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)
- 14.17%
- English as an additional language
- 22.5%
- Overall absence
- 4.79%
- Persistent absence
- 10.69%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bernards Heath Junior School0.4 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Margaret Wix Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Bernards Heath Infant and Nursery School0.5 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Maple Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · St Albans
-
Aboyne Lodge Junior Mixed and Infant School0.6 miles
Primary · St Albans
Other schools in St Albans
Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School ranks 22nd 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
- How Wood Primary and Nursery School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School teach?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School teaches children aged 5 to 11. It is a primary school in St Albans.
- Who is the headteacher of Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School?
- The headteacher of Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School is Mr Paul Sutton, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant 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 Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School has 430 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 11.
- Is Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School full?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School has capacity for 570 pupils and 430 on roll (75%), so it has space against 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 Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School a faith school?
- No. Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School has no designated religious character.
- Does Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School is part of AMBITION EDUCATION TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 65% in 2022/23 and 69% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School rank locally?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School ranked 140th of 339 primary schools in Hertfordshire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 63% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 66% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School's absence rate?
- Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School's overall absence rate is 4.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Garden Fields Junior Mixed and Infant 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 10 July 2026.