This article provides brief details of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s in the borough of

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Some Watford children attend schools in the neighbouring boroughs of Three Rivers and

Hertsmere Hertsmere is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other settlements in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar. The borough contains several fi ...

. All of the state-funded primary schools in Watford are

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

. There are two

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

schools in the borough, both of which are

voluntary aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

s. The remaining schools are all non-faith community schools. The

Local Education Authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. There are still some linked pairs of

infant school An infant school is a type of school or school department for young children. Today, the term is mainly used in England and Wales. In the Republic of Ireland, the first two years of primary school are called infant classes. Infant schools were ...

s and

junior school A junior school is a type of school which provides primary education to children, often in the age range from 8 and 13, following attendance at an infant school, which covers the age range 5–7. Since both infant and junior schools provide pri ...

s, with the infant school covering Reception and

Key Stage 1 Key Stage 1 is the legal term for the two years of schooling in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 1 and Year 2, when pupils are aged between 5 and 7. This Key Stage normally covers pupils during infant school, although in some ca ...

(Years 1 and 2) and the junior school covering

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The ...

(Years 3 to 6). However most have been amalgamated in a single Junior Mixed Infant (JMI) school or (equivalently) primary school.

Central Watford, West Watford and Oxhey

In the mid-19th century, the only schools in Watford were Mrs Fuller's Free School (established in 1704), by now in a poor state, and St Mary's

National Schools In Ireland, a national school () is a type of primary school that is financed directly by the state, but typically administered jointly by the state, a patron body, and local representatives. In national schools, most major policies, such as the ...

(separate schools for boys and girls, founded in 1841). They were joined in 1859 by British schools, initially in Red Lion Yard and later moving to Sotheron Road (girls) and Beechen Grove (boys). Another set of National schools, attached to St Andrew's Church, were founded in 1860. The Free School closed in 1882, and its endowment contributed to founding the Watford Endowed Schools, which provided secondary education and charged fees. St Mary's National Schools closed in 1922, and the site is now occupied by the multi-storey Church car park. The Watford

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

was established in 1883, and was chaired by Edward Mitchell Chater throughout its existence. The British schools and St Andrew's national schools became board schools the following year. The first new schools built by the board were the Watford Fields Schools, now known as the Field Schools. The infants school moved to its present site in 1981. The British boys' school closed in 1897, with the opening of Fearnly Street School, renamed Victoria School in 1903. The St Andrew's national schools continued until 1922. Following the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7. c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conserva ...

, the school board was abolished in 1903, and control of the schools passed to the

. The original Chater Schools, named after Edward Chater, consisted of two separate buildings on the site now occupied by the infants school, with juniors entering from Southsea Avenue, and infants from Harwoods Road. The schools were rebuilt in 1988, with the junior school moving to the site of the former Victoria School. Bushey and Oxhey Infant School was founded as Oxhey Village School, taking the name Oxhey Infants when it was rebuilt and enlarged in the 1960s. More recently it has been renamed Bushey and Oxhey Infants School It is linked with Bushey Manor Junior School (see Primary schools in Hertsmere). Central Primary School occupies a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building built in 1884 to house the

Watford Grammar School for Boys Watford Grammar School for Boys (commonly abbreviated as WBGS) is an 11–18 boys partially selective academy in Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The school and its sister school, Watford Grammar School for Girls, descend from a Free School ...

, which moved to West Watford in 1912.

Watford Grammar School for Girls Watford Grammar School for Girls (commonly abbreviated WGGS) is an academy for girls in Watford in Hertfordshire, UK. Despite its name, it is only a partially selective school, with 25% of entrants admitted on academic ability and 10% on music ...

resided in the smaller building next door in the same period. The buildings then housed the Watford

Central School A central school was a selective secondary education school with a focus on technical and commercial skills in the English education system. It was positioned between the more academic grammar schools and the ordinary elementary schools where m ...

until its move to

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...

in 1950 to become Bushey Grammar School, one of the predecessors of

Queens' School Queens' School, near Watford, Hertfordshire, is a partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status. It currently is a specialist science and sports college. History The story of Queens' begins with two schools in Watfo ...

. (The legend "Higher Elementary Schools", in terracotta tiles on the front of the building, replaced the earlier "Watford Endowed Schools" at the time of the Central School.) The school badge is based on that of the Watford Central School, which featured a crosslet fitchy and a

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famili ...

, details from the arms of Capell (

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

) and Villiers (

Earl of Clarendon Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire. First creation of the title The title was created for the first time in the Peer ...

) respectively, though the crosslet has since been altered to a sword. A proposal to open a one-form entry

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

school in Tolpits Lane, West Watford has been approved by

and passed to the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...

for a final decision.

North Watford and Garston

The Watford school board also built two schools (both since closed) in North Watford: a Callowland Boys' School (1892, ) and Alexandra Mixed School (1901, ). The higher elementary department of Alexandra School later became a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

in Bushey, the other predecessor of

. Berrygrove Primary School replaced Meriden Primary, Garston Infants and Lea Farm Junior (formerly Garston Junior) Schools. The Cassiobury schools lie within the affluent

Cassiobury The Cassiobury Estate is a suburban residential area of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. It is bounded to the south by Cassiobury Park, the main public park in the town, to the west by playing fields next to the River Gade, and to the northe ...

estate, and are heavily oversubscribed, with 4 applicants per place.Starting Primary School
, Hertfordshire County Council. The junior school has the highest

results in Watford, and half of the pupils typically go on to

and

. The schools' badge features an

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

coronet In British heraldry, a coronet is a type of crown that is a mark of rank of non-reigning members of the royal family and peers. In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for ''crown'' is used irrespective of ra ...

over the arms of the Capell family (

Earls of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

), owners of the original

, which included the site of the modern estate. Holy Rood Catholic Primary School is the oldest Roman Catholic school in Watford, started by the

Dominican sisters The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius II ...

as St Vincent's, a

board school School boards were ''ad hoc'' public bodies in England and Wales that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered Elementary school (England and Wales), elementary schools. Creation The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & ...

in Beechen Grove. In 1893 the school moved to a new building (now Grade II listed) adjacent to Holy Rood church in central Watford, taking its new name from the church in 1896. It taught pupils up to the age of 14 until the opening of St. Michael's Catholic High School in 1955, when it became a primary school. After many decades of overcrowding, the school moved to its present site in 1969. Knutsford Primary School lost its original school building in a fire in November 1999. After three years in temporary accommodation in the school fields, the school moved into a new building on the original site in 2002. The school is oversubscribed, with 3.5 applicants per place. The Nascot Wood schools, within the affluent

Nascot Wood Nascot Wood is the colloquial name for the largely residential area of Watford (Hertfordshire) that is located to the north-west of the town centre. The area has a relatively large number of mature trees, which help give it more of a leafy charact ...

area, are the most oversubscribed in Watford, with nearly 5 applicants for each place. The area was formerly part of the Cassiobury Park estate of the

. The school badge, an

over a

monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

"SX", was the mark of the 5th Earl, George Capell-Coningsby (1757–1839). Parkgate Junior School was originally a boys' school, becoming mixed in August 1921.Our School History
Parkgate Junior School.

References

{{Schools in Hertfordshire, primary Schools in Watford