Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School
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Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School is a council school in Eckington for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 63 pupils and room for 150. About 30 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit more than at most schools. We give it 2 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 4% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Chestnut Avenue, Eckington, S21 4BE01246 433205birkhill.derbyshire.sch.ukMrs Sue Birch headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 19 May 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2023 | Requires Improvement S5 Reinspection Visit 2 | Requires improvement |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
106 places were empty (59% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 24% since 2021/22, so places are getting easier to find.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Derbyshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (5), emotional and mental health (4), language and communications needs (3), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 63 | 92 | 106 | 110 | 121 | 142 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 29% | 27% | 22% | 26% | 29% | 24% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 6% | 10% | 10% | 7% | 2% | 2% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 17% | 12% | 16% | 11% | 7% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 1% | 0% | 3% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.9% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 6.1% | 6.9% | 7.6% | 10.3% | 5.5% | 5.2% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.3% | 3.4% | 4.6% | 7.0% | 3.8% | 3.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.8% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 1.6% | 2.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 19.3% | 17.2% | 23.4% | 45.3% | 13.3% | 17.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 2.2 | 0.0 | 4.6 | 2.5 | 1.4 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eckington Junior School | Academy | 930 m | 120 | Good 2024 | 9 | Compare |
| Camms CofE (Aided) Primary School | Church of England | 0.9 miles | 215 | Good 2024 | 24 | Compare |
| Marsh Lane Primary School | Council | 0.9 miles | 147 | Good 2023 | 78 | Compare |
| Mosborough Primary School | Council | 1.5 miles | 417 | Outstanding 2023 | 91 | Compare |
| Halfway Junior School | Council | 1.6 miles | 200 | Report card 2026 | 41 | Compare |
| Renishaw Primary School | Council | 1.7 miles | 187 | Report card 2026 | 9 | Compare |
| Halfway Nursery Infant School | Council | 2.0 miles | 197 | Good 2024 | 46 | Compare |
| Barrow Hill Primary Academy | Academy | 2.1 miles | 74 | Requires improvement 2022 | 0 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School with the 46 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 46 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 46 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenthall Infant and Nursery School | Council | 3.9 miles | 82 | Good 2023 | 62 | Compare |
| Stretton Handley Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 11.2 miles | 59 | Good 2023 | 8 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 2 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 2% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 1 to 4. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | well below | -1.47 | Ofsted report card, 0.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | above | +0.18 | results and attendance rising year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | below | -0.17 | 2024/25; 57 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School a good school?
The figures are weak. Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School scores 2 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 4% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 1 to 4, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 19 May 2026 it rated teaching as needs attention, achievement as needs attention, behaviour and attendance as needs attention, leadership as needs attention.
How many pupils does Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School have?
63 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 150 places, so it is 42% full.
Is Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 106 places were empty in 2024/25 (59% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School?
Pupils were in school 93.9% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 19% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Birk Hill Infant & Nursery School?
The average class had 20.0 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Chestnut Avenue, Eckington, S21 4BE
- Telephone
- 01246 433205
- Website
- www.birkhill.derbyshire.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sue Birch
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Derbyshire
- Ward
- Eckington South & Renishaw
- Constituency
- North East Derbyshire
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 112543 · LAESTAB 8302095 · UKPRN 10076515
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.