Dacorum Education Support Centre
Dacorum Education Support Centre is a pupil referral unit in Hemel Hempstead for boys and girls aged 5 to 16. It has 11 pupils. About 46 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 2023.
30 Tenzing Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4HS01442 247476desc.herts.sch.ukMs Naomi Walker and Mrs Clare Winter headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 25 May 2023 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 (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (1), Moderate learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 11 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 46% | 50% | 75% | 60% | 57% | 50% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 83% | 100% | 60% | 43% | 50% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 9 pupils who left in 2021/22 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 50%, compared with – for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 56% | 38% |
| Education | 56% | 38% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 33% | 38% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Adeyfield Academy | Academy | 270 m | 858 | Good 2023 | 11 | Compare |
| Hobletts Manor Infants' School | Council | 510 m | 214 | Good 2023 | 62 | Compare |
| Hobletts Manor Junior School | Council | 540 m | 237 | Good 2023 | 82 | Compare |
| Saint Albert the Great Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | Academy | 830 m | 204 | No overall grade 2025 | 25 | Compare |
| Broadfield Academy | Academy | 920 m | 429 | Good 2022 | 17 | Compare |
| The Reddings Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 208 | Not inspected | 30 | Compare |
| Lime Walk Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 212 | Good 2023 | 9 | Compare |
| Jupiter Primary School | Free school | 0.7 miles | 397 | Good 2022 | 48 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Dacorum Education Support Centre a good school?
Dacorum Education Support Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it outstanding at its last inspection in May 2023.
What is Dacorum Education Support Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Dacorum Education Support Centre outstanding at its last full inspection on 25 May 2023.
How many pupils does Dacorum Education Support Centre have?
11 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
- 30 Tenzing Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4HS
- Telephone
- 01442 247476
- Website
- www.desc.herts.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Naomi Walker and Mrs Clare Winter
- 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
- Adeyfield East
- Constituency
- Hemel Hempstead
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 1995
- URN
- 131100 · LAESTAB 9191108 · UKPRN 10016572
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.