Schools in Hoddesdon are one of the town's real strengths. The local primaries score well in maths. Nine in ten schools across the county hold a good or better inspection grade. The secondary picture is more mixed. For most families, the schools give no reason to look elsewhere.
There are two mainstream state primaries in the area, and their pupils average a score of about 107 in the Key Stage 2 maths tests at the end of primary school. That is a small group of schools, and with this few, one strong or weak year group moves the average more than any long-term change would. Families around town also look at Sheredes Primary School and Roselands Primary School, and Wormley and Turnford have their own primaries a short drive south. Small schools give small averages, and small averages swing.
For secondary, there is one mainstream state school in the area. Its pupils average an Attainment 8 score of about 43 across their best eight subjects at the end of Year 11. The John Warner School carries the most local history: in 2007 a schools minister congratulated it for years of steady improvement in exam results. The Broxbourne School and Haileybury Turnford are the other names that come up. Haileybury Turnford shares part of its name with Haileybury College, and some parents only hear the first word.
Ofsted has graded 227 schools and settings across Hertfordshire, and 203 of them are good or outstanding, roughly nine in ten. Of those, 40 are outstanding. Another 21 require improvement and 3 are rated inadequate. A large number of settings in the county have no published grade yet, and they are not part of these counts. These are county-wide totals, so they show what Hertfordshire's schools are like in general and say nothing certain about any one classroom in Hoddesdon.
Hertfordshire County Council allocates places using its published admissions rules, so buying a house near a particular school does not secure a place there. For each school you are considering, look up the furthest distance at which a place was offered in recent years. That number tends to be smaller than buyers expect, and parents who have checked it can usually quote it faster than their own postcode.
The schools here are a strong reason to move to Hoddesdon, with good primary results and a county that grades nine in ten of its schools good or better.