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Monk's Walk School

Academy converter in Welwyn Garden City, AL8 7NL, taking ages 11 to 18, 1,440 on roll.

Good Ofsted, Nov 2023
2.6 mi Admitted from, latest published year
101% Full, over capacity
50.8 Attainment 8, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 2.6 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close 31 October 2026; offers on 1 March 2027.

The circle is 2.6 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Monk's Walk School: 2.6 miles Oaklands Primary School: 4.05 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 2.6 miles was last year's outcome, not a boundary and not a promise.
How to read this

Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Monk's Walk School is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.

Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.

Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary. The labels on the map are postcode districts whose centre falls inside both circles; each opens the district's guide.

The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.

Source: Hertfordshire, published admission distances

Where Monk's Walk School and Oaklands Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Oaklands Primary School admitted from 4.05 miles in the latest published year, published by Hertfordshire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside both published distances, cheapest first by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is AL7 at £425,000; the dearest shown, AL6, £620,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Monk's Walk SchoolFrom Oaklands Primary SchoolMedian sold price
AL7 Welwyn Hatfield 1.9 mi 3.1 mi £425,000 62 sales
AL8 Welwyn Hatfield 1.1 mi 2.7 mi £489,000 60 sales
AL6 Welwyn Hatfield 1.0 mi 0.7 mi £620,000 43 sales

Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Distances measured from each district's centre to each school's point on the Department for Education register.

Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.

Drop Oaklands Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Hertfordshire, 109 of 519 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (21.0%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.

Other schools nearby with a published distance

The closest schools to Monk's Walk School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Homerswood Primary and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 1.61 mi 0.4 mi
Harwood Hill Junior Mixed Infant and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 0.37 mi 0.6 mi
Templewood Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.75 mi 0.7 mi
Waterside Academy Both in reach Primary 0.48 mi 1.3 mi
Applecroft School Both in reach Primary 0.65 mi 1.6 mi
Oaklands Primary School Both in reach Primary 4.05 mi 1.6 mi

The distance as a picture

Monk's Walk School catchment area map: the 2.6 mile admission distance and the postcode districts inside it
Drawn to scale from the published figure, with the districts whose centre falls inside. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

AdmissionsNon-selective
Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formHas a sixth form
How full 1,440 pupils in 1,430 places (101% full, over capacity)
TrustMONK'S WALK SCHOOL
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 15 November 2023. Ungraded inspection, November 2023: school remains Good
Attainment 8 50.8 (2024/25)
YearProgress 8
2024/25 not published
2023/24 +0.24
2022/23 +0.59

Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.

Who goes to Monk's Walk School

Girls and boys46.5% girls, 53.5% boys
English as an additional language9.4% of pupils
Free school meals17.3% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Where Monk's Walk School's Year 11 went next

Stayed for the sixth form60.5%
Sixth-form college0.5%
Further education college29.5%
Apprenticeship1.4%
Employment1.8%
No sustained destination recorded3.2%

DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.

What it costs to live within reach of Monk's Walk School

Cheapest district inside the 2.6 miles: AL7, median £425,000. Dearest: AL6, £620,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
AL7 Welwyn Hatfield 1.9 mi £425,000 62 sales
AL8 Welwyn Hatfield 1.1 mi £489,000 60 sales
AL6 Welwyn Hatfield 1.0 mi £620,000 43 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 2.6 miles the school admitted from in the latest published year, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.

How this compares across England: what a tight gate costs, school by school.

Source: HM Land Registry sold prices, via each district's area guide

Getting to Monk's Walk School by bus

Best-served stop: Monk's Walk School, 122 yd away, with 3.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 05:52, last 22:40.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Monk's Walk School122 yd3.81.51.0301, 725, 314, 315
Monk's Walk School142 yd3.82.21.0301, 725, 315, 314, 215, 815
Oakdale0.2 mi3.01.21.0301, 314, 315

These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.

Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026

The fee-paying alternative

Weighing Monk's Walk School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around AL8: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at AL8 7NL, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →

Checking the house as well as the school

The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.

Common questions

What is the catchment area for Monk's Walk School?

Monk's Walk School does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in the latest published year lived 2.6 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Monk's Walk School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 2.6 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 101% full the school has little slack. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.

Does buying a house near Monk's Walk School guarantee a place?

No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.

Every Hertfordshire school's distance

All Hertfordshire schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →

Put Monk's Walk School's figure on your own site

A small badge with the published distance that links back here, for a school website, parents' group or forum.

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Monk's Walk School badge

Admission distance published by Hertfordshire. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.