Chessbrook Education Support Centre
Chessbrook Education Support Centre is a pupil referral unit in Watford for boys and girls aged 5 to 16. It has 7 pupils. About 43 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was outstanding, back in 2024.
Tolpits Lane, Watford, WD18 6LJ01923 212025chessbrook.herts.sch.ukMr Steve McShannon headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 7 February 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Outstanding overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Hertfordshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (6), Autistic spectrum disorder (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 19 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 43% | 25% | 40% | 14% | 29% | 26% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 29% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 14% | 5% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 88% | 80% | 57% | 43% | 21% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 13% | 20% | 43% | 57% | 42% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 8 pupils who left in 2020/21 were a year later.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westfield Academy | Academy | 160 m | 1,331 | No overall grade 2024 | 36 | Compare |
| St Anthony's Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 350 m | 448 | Report card 2026 | 65 | Compare |
| Willow Tree Primary School | Academy | 510 m | 185 | Requires improvement 2023 | – | Compare |
| Ascot Road Primary School | Free school | 520 m | 391 | Good 2024 | 20 | Compare |
| Laurance Haines School | Academy | 560 m | 463 | Not inspected | 71 | Compare |
| Watford Grammar School for Boys | Academy | 740 m | 1,590 | Report card 2026 | 94 | Compare |
| Chater Infant School | Council | 800 m | 223 | Good 2024 | 35 | Compare |
| Chater Junior School | Council | 0.6 miles | 237 | No overall grade 2024 | 38 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Chessbrook Education Support Centre a good school?
Chessbrook Education Support Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it outstanding at its last inspection in February 2024.
What is Chessbrook Education Support Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Chessbrook Education Support Centre outstanding at its last full inspection on 7 February 2024.
How many pupils does Chessbrook Education Support Centre have?
7 pupils aged 5 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Tolpits Lane, Watford, WD18 6LJ
- Telephone
- 01923 212025
- Website
- www.chessbrook.herts.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Steve McShannon
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward
- Holywell
- Constituency
- Watford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 1995
- URN
- 130349 · LAESTAB 9191105 · UKPRN 10016586
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.