Welcome to The John Warner School

At The John Warner School we are proud to be a school that has provided a first-rate education to young people in Hoddesdon since John Warner built a school for children of all classes and religious beliefs in 1841. We have worked tirelessly to build on this rich history to ignite a lifelong passion for learning, to discover and develop potential, allowing all to flourish in an ever-changing world.

That hasn’t, however, come without its challenges – and we are currently making important changes to ensure that we meet the high standards that we set ourselves.

Please visit the Primary Transition page for information on entry for September 2025. 

Please visit the Sixth Form admissions page for information on how to apply.

If you have questions about admissions, please email admissions@johnwarner.herts.sch.uk. 

Key dates for September 2025 applications:

Open evening - Wednesday 18 September 2024. Headteacher speech at 5:45pm and 6:45pm (doors open at 5:30pm and will close at 8:00pm)

Technology Aptitude Test - Tuesday 08 October 2024 (deadline for applications 01 October)

Determined admissions arrangements 

JWS-Admissions-Policy-for-2025-2026.pdf

Note for 2024/25 admissions - Danes Educational Trust has applied for and received permission from the Department for Education to reduce the published admissions number The John Warner School for September 2024 to 120.

Supplementary information form for 2025 entry (to be completed by all prospective students, in addition to applying through Hertfordshire County Council).

Technology Aptitude

As part of our admissions arrangements, we welcome students who have a particular apitude for technology. A separate application form is needed in addition to the application made through Hertfordshire County Council. Assessment for admission under this criterion is an aptitude test, sat in school.

The tests form part of our oversubscription criteria for secondary transfer and involve the children sitting two papers: a non-verbal reasoning paper (40 minutes) and a spatial awareness test (45 minutes), both papers look for the ability to recognise similarities, analogies and patterns in unfamiliar designs.  A sample question will be read out and then a period of time will be given for the children to complete each section of the multiple choice questions. The scores are then converted to an age-standardised score which takes into account the fact that some children are very young in the year groups. There is no pass mark for these tests, places are strictly offered in descending order of each applicant’s standardised test score.

You should advise the school before the test and on the day of the test if your child has any special requirements that you feel may disadvantage them when sitting the test.  If your child is sick on the day of the test, please telephone the school in the morning.

This is not an intelligence test. The test is looking for students that show an aptitude for technology; a good example of this would be problem-solving based around pictures, diagrams and shapes. Below are examples of the type of questions that may be asked:

• Spotting the odd shape out
• Working out what a shape would like like when folded
• Identifying mirror images
• Working out the next diagram in a sequence 

How places are allocated

Each year we move through the list in ranked order with the highest score being at the top and continue allocating until all 10% of places available have been given. Please be aware that in compliance with the School Admission Code 1.32(c) the school will not at any stage give out the individual rankings but will provide you with the outcome by informing you of the overall score that your child has achieved.  

These tests are only open to students that join us in the normal secondary transfer round for Year 7 places. All applications must be made prior to the published deadline.

Technology Aptitude Test Application Form

In-Year

If you are applying for a place for your child, outside of the usual Year 7 intake process, you will need to apply for an In Year admission. In Year Admissions for The John Warner School are managed by Hertfordshire County Council. You can also call the Hertfordshire County Council Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4043.

Student transfer information form - to be completed by the current school

New student registration form - to be completed by parent/carer once the place has been offered

Check school vacancies in your area

Student and parental agreement for new startersAdmissions for each year group are allocated in accordance with the relevant over subscription criteria. If there are no vacancies, children will be placed on the continuing interest list for the appropriate year group. Any vacancies are filled from the list in accordance with the relevant over subscription criteria and not according to the date the application was received.

A continuing interest list will be maintained until the end of the current academic year. If you wish to remain on the list then you will need to complete a new application form at the start of each academic year. 

For information on which schools in the area have places available, you should use the links above or contact the local authority, Hertfordshire County Council on 0300 123 4043.

The school will notify the Local Authority of your application. They will then write to you with necessary log in details and passwords to enable you to lodge an appeal if desired. Appeals resulting from in-year admission applications will be heard within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged. For further information, please visit:

Visit hertsdirect.org

Appeals

You have the right to appeal against the school's decision to not offer a place. Parents are required to lodge all school admission appeals online with the Hertfordshire County Council. 

Hertfordshire parents can access the online system via their admission account. Parents who live out of county or who applied on paper should now use the online appeals system and will need to contact Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4043 in order to obtain registration details to gain access if they have not already written to you. We will inform the Local Authority if we have been unable to offer you a place.

Appeals for secondary transfer must be lodged by 4pm on 28 March 2024 and are heard in June at a local venue.

For In Year appeals, parents will also use the Local Authorities appeals online system.   

In Year admission appeals will be heard within 6 weeks of the appeal being lodged. This can mean that your appeal is not heard until the next term.

The Admissions and Transport team will then send a letter to you with registration details to access the appeals online system.  

Parent guidance for appeals is found solely on the local authority web pages. 

Admissions frequently asked questions

If I live outside Hertfordshire, do I need to submit my application to Hertfordshire County Council?

No, you should apply to your own Local Authority who will pass on your information to the Hertfordshire County Council. You should still complete our Supplementary Information Form.

Am I in your catchment area?

A school catchment area is the geographic area from which students are eligible to attend a local school. Our oversubscription criteria does not contain any rule that specifies areas and we therefore do not have a catchment area as such. You can view our statistical information to ascertain the last person that was allocated a place through the distance criteria in the past few years.

Do you need proof of address?

To prevent any fraudulent applications, we may ask you for two forms of proof of address; (a) your most recent council tax statement and (b) an original utility bill not older than 3 months. Documentation should include the name(s) of all adults living at the applicants address; if this is not supplied then the school may ask you to provide further proof. Due to COVID-19, all our applications are online this year and we may therefore ask you for documentation at a later date; this will be on a random basis.

How can I work out my home to school distance?

Most local authorities will have an option on their admissions pages for you to work out the distances to your nearest schools. You can work your distances out if you are with Hertfordshire County Council by following this link.

Whose address should I put on my application form?

Give your child's permanent address at the time you apply.

If you move after applying, you must edit your application both with the Local Authority and the school.

The Local Authority can't use your new address for allocation purposes if they receive your change later than 4 December.

Will I know if my child has got a place before allocation day if they sit the test?

No, it is illegal  for any school to give out allocation information before the national allocation day (1^st March). Instead we will let you know your child’s tests score along with statistical information of the lowest test score that was allocated a place in previous years – this should help you in ranking your preference schools.

Does my child have to sit the test?

No, the test is optional. We save 10% of our available places to allocate to those that scored the highest results in the test. The test results are looked at once all other places have been allocated, for example, your child may have sat the test but already been allocated a place on distance, therefore we would not consider their test score meaning that we can move further down the list. We will offer 22 places on the test criteria this year.

I already have a sibling at the school, does my child need to sit the test?

No, siblings do not ordinarily need to sit the test, this is because the sibling rule sits higher than the test rule and will take priority.

Are there any previous test papers that we can see?

No, we are not allowed to release old test papers. Please read through the information on the test on our website.

Where are the application forms?

Application forms for Secondary Transfer (Year 6 into Year 7) can be found on our admissions pages under that heading.

Applications for those children who wish to join a current year group can be made through Hertfordshire County Council.

If my child is offered a place in a current year group, how long will the process take?

The process for an in-year transfer may take up to four weeks. We may need to bring your child in for CATs testing if they have not sat them at their current school or if they are coming from overseas. Once we have these results we can create a timetable and then move forward with a start date for you.

Do you contact their current school?

Yes, we will always contact a prospective student’s current school. We will ask for academic information so that we can place them in the correct teaching groups. We will also ask for behavioural information and whether or not they are at risk of permanent exclusion – this is because they may fall under a different admissions criteria known as “the fair access protocol”.