School profile
Layston Church of England First School
The Causeway, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, SG9 9EU
Overview
Layston Church of England First School is a state-funded school (voluntary controlled school) in Buntingford, East of England, for pupils aged 5–9. This summary is generated only from official structured fields.
School details
- Official establishment type
- Voluntary controlled school
- Establishment group
- Local authority maintained schools
- Phase of education
- Primary
- Age range
- Ages 5–9
- Gender of entry
- Mixed
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Sixth form
- No
- Religious character
- Church of England
- School capacity
- 150
- Pupils on roll
- 124
- URN
- 117390
Admissions
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
Contact the school or your local authority for catchment and application deadlines.
School places
DfE school capacity survey · May 2025 (2024/25)
- Capacity at survey date
- 150
- Pupils on roll
- 139
- Unfilled places at survey date
- 11
A dated snapshot from the Department for Education school capacity survey, separate from the school details above. Unfilled places at the survey date do not mean places are currently available for admission. About this data
Official admissions data
Applications & demand
Preferences expressed by families through coordinated admissions, shown over time.
2026/27 admissions · Reception
- First preferences
- 8
- Total preferences
- 36
- Offers made
- 9
Times the school was named as a family's first preference.
All recorded preference positions for this school.
Offers recorded through coordinated admissions, not physical capacity.
First preferences compared with offers
0.89 first preferences per offer
8 first preferences and 9 offers were recorded for 2026/27.
What does this mean?
This is the Department for Education's own published comparison of first preferences with total offers recorded. It indicates the level of requests made through coordinated admissions. Offers are not necessarily the school's maximum capacity, admissions arrangements vary between local authorities, the figure is not a measure of school quality, and it should not be used on its own to judge the likelihood of gaining a place.
First preferences over time
Latest five available admissions years. Missing years are not estimated.
Admissions history
| Admissions year | First preferences | Total preferences | Offers made |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 8 | 36 | 9 |
| 2025/26 | 18 | 59 | 18 |
| 2024/25 | 27 | 77 | 29 |
| 2023/24 | 28 | 78 | 30 |
| 2022/23 | 31 | 92 | 30 |
Source: Department for Education · Applications and offers data.
Official inspection data
Ofsted inspections
Inspection information published by Ofsted, shown in Ofsted's own words.
Ofsted inspection
Inspected 31 October 2023 · Published 12 February 2024
Original education inspection framework (September 2019 to August 2024)
Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
This is a historical Ofsted judgement given under the previous inspection framework. It is not a School Nest rating.
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding was effective
- Yes
- Early years provision (where applicable)
- Inadequate
Ofsted changed how it inspects and reports on schools in November 2025. Judgements from the previous and current frameworks use different systems and should not be directly compared.
School Nest shows the inspection information Ofsted currently publishes for this school. It is not a complete record of every inspection the school has ever had.
Source: Ofsted · Inspections and outcomes. Official Ofsted page for this school
Location
- Address
- The Causeway, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, SG9 9EU
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
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