History

St John’s Church of England Primary School is the newest primary school located in central Watford and is the 136th school within the St Albans Diocese. It has a religious designation and the Christian ethos permeates throughout the whole school. We are an inclusive school that welcomes families from a Christian background, all faiths and those of no faith, as we are here to serve our whole community.

Our journey started in 2013 when Rev’d David Stevenson, Vicar of St John’s Church in Sutton Road listened to local families within the parish who were requesting a Church of England school and therefore greater choice for local school provision. Father David then approached John Reynolds, the Diocesan Director of Education for the St Albans Diocese, to ask if creating a Church of England Primary School would be possible. The answer was a firm yes and the first spark of St John’s Primary School was ignited.

A working team was built from the church and the Diocese and in 2014 after a lot of paperwork and redrafting the school application was made to the DfE. The team were called for an interview where they were successful and the project moved into the pre-opening phase.

As the journey continued the steering group was formed, a Chair of Governors was elected and a Headteacher and further staff recruited. On April 29th 2016 we entered the Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State and the school became a firm reality. We will be forever grateful for the hard work of the steering group and the newly formed governors, the belief that the first parents had in us and the passion of the recruited staff. This all led to a very successful opening in September 2016, with our foundling class of 30 reception children, in our temporary site in Estcourt Road.

On 3rd September 2018, we reach another milestone on our journey. This is the day the school moved into it’s permanent home at 32 Clarendon Road. We are now flourishing in our new accommodation welcoming an intake of 60 children year on year as our school family grows.