← School guide Admissions

Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery

Academy converter in Watford, WD25 7NX, taking ages 3 to 11, 238 on roll.

Good Ofsted, Jan 2024
0.34 mi Admitted from, latest published year
98% Full
74.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.34 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.

The circle is 0.34 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery: 0.34 miles Kingsway Infants' School: 5.04 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 0.34 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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery 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 address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.

Source: Hertfordshire, published admission distances

Where Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery and Kingsway Infants' School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Kingsway Infants' School admitted from 5.04 miles in the latest published year, published by Hertfordshire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.34 and 5.04 miles, and the ground those circles share holds no district centre, which is a fact about where the centres fall rather than about any one address. The map above shows both, and the postcode checker answers for both.

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

Drop Kingsway Infants' 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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Future Academies Watford Both in reach Secondary 12.49 mi 0.4 mi
Leavesden JMI School Both in reach Primary 2.17 mi 0.5 mi
Kingsway Infants' School Both in reach Primary 5.04 mi 0.6 mi
Kingsway Junior School Both in reach Primary 0.43 mi 0.6 mi
Coates Way JMI and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 0.85 mi 0.9 mi
Tanners Wood Junior Mixed and Infant School Both in reach Primary 1.59 mi 1.0 mi

The distance as a picture

Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery catchment area map: the 0.34 mile admission distance
Drawn to scale from the published figure. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 238 pupils in 243 places (98% full)
TrustAGORA LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 25 January 2024
Meeting the expected standard 74.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 74.0%
2023/24 60.0%
2022/23 67.0%

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

Who goes to Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery

Girls and boys49.6% girls, 50.4% boys
English as an additional language32.4% of pupils
Free school meals23.9% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Getting to Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery by bus

Best-served stop: The Brow Shops, 0.1 mi away, with 3.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:02, last 22:29.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
The Brow Shops152 yd2.81.01.020
The Brow Shops0.1 mi3.01.21.020, 319
The Hammer in Hand PH0.1 mi2.81.01.020

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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around WD25: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at WD25 7NX, 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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery?

Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery 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 0.34 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.34 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 98% 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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery 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 Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery'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.

Show the badge and its code

Alban Wood Primary School and Nursery 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.