Official inspection reports and grades
Inspected 19 May 2026
School workforce census, 2025/26.
Ofsted inspected Buntingford First School on 19 May 2026 using a report card, which grades each area separately and gives no overall grade. The school met Ofsted's safeguarding standards. It was graded Strong standard for inclusion, for leadership and governance, for personal development and wellbeing and for early years; Expected standard for achievement, for curriculum and teaching and for attendance and behaviour.
Apply through the council where you live by 15 January for a Reception place starting that September. Children start Reception in the September after their fourth birthday. You can usually list between 3 and 6 schools in order of preference, and offers are sent on 16 April, or the next working day. A place in its nursery class does not carry on into Reception, so you still need to apply.
No. Distance only counts when Buntingford First School has more applicants than places. Then its admission criteria, set by its academy trust, decide who is offered a place first. Children in care or adopted from care come first by law. Most schools put brothers and sisters of current pupils next, then distance or a catchment area. How far away the last place went changes every year, depending on who applies.
Buntingford First School had 123 pupils aged 2 to 9 at the latest school census. Its official capacity is 330. It is a mixed school.