Layston Church of England First School

Voluntary controlled school·First school Buntingford, Hertfordshire·SG9 9EU

School type

First school

Ages 5–9

Key Stage 2 performance

Layston Church of England First School is a first school for pupils aged 5–9. Pupils move on to a separate junior or middle school before Year 6, so the school does not enter pupils for the Key Stage 2 SATs and has no KS2 results to publish.

This applies to every first school in England — it does not mean data is missing. Ofsted judgements and school information are shown below.

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first

100%

8 first choices, 9 places

First choices per place

0.89

fewer first choices than places

Applications naming the school

any preference, for 9 places

First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.11

00.511.5

1 per place

1.0320220.9320230.9320241.0020250.892026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Layston Church of England First School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness

Requires improvement

Quality of education

Requires improvement

Behaviour and attitudes

Good

Personal development

Good

Leadership and management

Requires improvement

Safeguarding effective?

Yes

Early years provision

Inadequate

School profile

Age range: 5–9
Pupils on roll: 139
Gender: Mixed
Religious character: Church of England

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6

21.6%

Typical primary: 21.5%

% EAL

4.3%

Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support

18.0%

Typical primary: 14.3%

% with an EHC plan

2.2%

Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence

7.3%

Typical primary: 5.3%

Persistently absent

17.6%

Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher

16.5

Typical primary: 20.7

Spend per pupil

£7,583

Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Edwinstree Church of England Middle School Buntingford · 0.4 mi 30.3 Sandon Junior Mixed and Infant School Nr Buntingford · 4.0 mi 53.4 Furneux Pelham Church of England School Furneux Pelham · 4.2 mi 27.3 St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School Ware · 4.3 mi 51.6 Ralph Sadleir School Ware · 4.4 mi 27.2 Little Munden Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Ware · 5.2 mi 36.4 Walkern Primary School Stevenage · 5.3 mi 67.7 Albury Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Albury · 5.3 mi 44.3

Location

Official sources

Latest Ofsted report reports.ofsted.gov.uk DfE Compare School Performance compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk GIAS school details get-information-schools.service.gov.uk

Layston Church of England First School at a glance

Located in Buntingford, Hertfordshire, Layston Church of England First School is a primary school, classified by the DfE as a voluntary controlled school with a Church of England religious character. The school educates roughly 139 pupils aged 5 to 9. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Requires improvement' at its most recent inspection.

Layston Church of England First School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 8 families who put it first were offered a place. Overall pupil absence was 7.3%. There are about 16.5 pupils per teacher. If you are considering Layston Church of England First School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.