Pinewood School
Pinewood School is a special academy in Ware for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 206 pupils, 14 more than it has places for. About 47 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Hoe Lane, Ware, SG12 9PB01920 412211pinewood.herts.sch.ukMs Taney Howarth headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 12 May 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 3 October 2023 | Requires Improvement S5 Reinspection Visit 2 | Requires improvement |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
54 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Hertfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 54 | 35 | 35 | 28 | 24 | 33 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | – | – | – | – | – | 0.5 | 50.9 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | – | – | – | – | -1.59 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | – | 0% | 53% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | – | 0% | 72% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | – | – | – | – | – | 0.04 | 4.58 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | – | – | – | – | – | 0% | 47% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | – | – | – | – | – | 0.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | – | – | – | – | – | 0.8 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | – | – | – | – | 0.5 | – | – |
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.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with autism, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Hertfordshire with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Moderate learning difficulty (102), Autistic spectrum disorder (48), language and communications needs (24), emotional and mental health (13), Other difficulty or disability (5), Severe learning difficulty (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 206 | 209 | 209 | 204 | 199 | 191 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 47% | 46% | 43% | 38% | 35% | 35% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 6% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.0% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 10.1% | 9.8% | 10.0% | 11.8% | 5.1% | 8.2% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 7.1% | 7.6% | 7.1% | 8.6% | 3.7% | 6.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.0% | 2.2% | 2.9% | 3.2% | 1.4% | 2.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 26.5% | 25.9% | 25.9% | 34.7% | 11.1% | 25.0% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 12.9 | 15.8 | 6.9 | 12.1 | 5.8 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 35 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 97% | 86% | 97% | 97% |
| Education | 97% | 86% | 97% | 94% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 3% | 7% | 3% | 3% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middleton School | Council | 140 m | 113 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
| Presdales School | Academy | 350 m | 1,167 | Outstanding 2024 | 91 | Compare |
| Hertford Regional College | Further education | 780 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School | Academy | 990 m | 202 | No overall grade 2024 | 86 | Compare |
| Christ Church CofE (VA) Primary School and Nursery | Church of England | 0.8 miles | 332 | Good 2023 | 34 | Compare |
| Wheatcroft Primary School | Council | 0.9 miles | 319 | Good 2023 | 51 | Compare |
| St Catherine's Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 1.0 miles | 415 | Good 2024 | 48 | Compare |
| Hertford Heath Primary and Nursery School | Council | 1.1 miles | 207 | Good 2022 | 18 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Pinewood School a good school?
Pinewood School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from May 2026 rated its teaching as needs attention.
What is Pinewood School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 12 May 2026 it rated teaching as needs attention, achievement as needs attention, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Pinewood School have?
206 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 192 places, so it is 107% full.
What is attendance like at Pinewood School?
Pupils were in school 90.0% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 27% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Pinewood School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for autism, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hoe Lane, Ware, SG12 9PB
- Telephone
- 01920 412211
- Website
- www.pinewood.herts.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Taney Howarth
- Type of school
- Special academy (Academy special converter, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Single-academy trust
- Pinewood School Academy Trust (1 schools)
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward
- Ware Priory
- Constituency
- Hertford and Stortford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2014 (academy converter)
- URN
- 141251 · LAESTAB 9197004 · UKPRN 10047151
- Formerly
- Pinewood School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- 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, academy accounts return 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.