St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold
St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold is a converter academy in Hitchin for boys and girls aged 5 to 9. It has 297 pupils and room for 300. About 18 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England.
Rook Tree Lane, Stotfold, Hitchin, SG5 4DL01462 730343stmarysacademystotfold.co.ukMiss Sam Bishop headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published. As a Church of England school it may put families of that faith first. Check the school's own admissions rules.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference. Pupil numbers have grown by 6% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
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 Central Bedfordshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 29.5 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 30.0 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (9), language and communications needs (8), Autistic spectrum disorder (7), Moderate learning difficulty (4), Hearing impairment (2), Specific learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 297 | 292 | 289 | 284 | 281 | 279 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 18% | 13% | 14% | 13% | 11% | 9% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 5% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.5% 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 | 4.5% | 5.2% | 4.9% | 6.6% | 2.6% | 4.3% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.4% | 3.8% | 3.6% | 5.5% | 2.3% | 3.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.2% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.3% | 0.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 11.0% | 15.4% | 10.2% | 16.5% | 5.1% | 8.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
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 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 primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roecroft Lower School | Council | 660 m | 359 | No overall grade 2025 | 70 | Compare |
| Pix Brook Academy | Free school | 720 m | 1,011 | Good 2024 | 56 | Compare |
| Etonbury Academy | Academy | 1.0 miles | 1,158 | Good 2020 | 64 | Compare |
| The Grange Academy | Academy | 1.4 miles | 165 | Good 2022 | 43 | Compare |
| Northfields Infants and Nursery School | Council | 1.5 miles | 138 | Requires improvement 2024 | 0 | Compare |
| Fairfield Park Lower School | Council | 1.6 miles | 479 | Good 2024 | 51 | Compare |
| Stonehill School | Council | 1.6 miles | 220 | Good 2023 | 31 | Compare |
| Gothic Mede Academy | Academy | 1.7 miles | 249 | Good 2023 | 30 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold yet.
How many pupils does St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold have?
297 pupils aged 5 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 300 places, so it is 99% full.
Is St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold?
Pupils were in school 95.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 11% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at St Mary's CofE Academy Stotfold?
The average class had 29.7 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 10% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Rook Tree Lane, Stotfold, Hitchin, SG5 4DL
- Telephone
- 01462 730343
- Website
- www.stmarysacademystotfold.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Miss Sam Bishop
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 5-9
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England, Diocese of St Albans
- Single-academy trust
- St Mary's Church of England Academy, Stotfold (1 schools)
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Stotfold
- Constituency
- Hitchin
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2012 (academy converter)
- URN
- 138022 · LAESTAB 8233014 · UKPRN 10037001
- Formerly
- St Mary's VC Lower School
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.
- 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.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- 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.