Diss Infant Academy and Nursery
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Diss Infant Academy and Nursery is a converter academy in Diss for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 115 pupils and room for 210. About 14 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 14 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 19% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Fitzwalter Road, Diss, IP22 4PU01379 642675dissinfant.stbenets.orgMrs Joanna Cerullo executive headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 12 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 20 June 2023 | S5 Inspection | Requires improvement |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
83 places were empty (46% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 16% 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 Norfolk 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: language and communications needs (21), Physical disability (2), emotional and mental health (2), Moderate learning difficulty (1), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 115 | 118 | 116 | 123 | 137 | 148 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 14% | 12% | 17% | 17% | 20% | 19% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 40% | 44% | 37% | 41% | 36% | 32% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 20% | 23% | 31% | 21% | 20% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 3% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.1% 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 | 6.9% | 8.0% | 8.9% | 9.1% | 3.9% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.0% | 5.5% | 6.5% | 7.6% | 3.1% | – | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.9% | 2.5% | 2.4% | 1.5% | 0.8% | – | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 8.2% | 29.9% | 38.2% | 28.9% | 10.6% | 18.8% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 7.3 | 0.7 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
Staff
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diss Church of England Junior Academy | Academy | 390 m | 149 | Good 2022 | 14 | Compare |
| Palgrave Church of England Primary School | Academy | 1.0 miles | 85 | Good 2019 | 58 | Compare |
| Roydon Primary School | Council | 1.2 miles | 255 | Good 2024 | 27 | Compare |
| Scole Church of England Primary Academy | Academy | 1.8 miles | 41 | Report card 2026 | 37 | Compare |
| Burston Community Primary School | Academy | 2.3 miles | 27 | Report card 2026 | 84 | Compare |
| Bressingham Primary School | Foundation | 2.9 miles | 139 | Good 2024 | 85 | Compare |
| Wortham Primary School | Academy | 3.0 miles | 100 | No overall grade 2024 | 94 | Compare |
| Dickleburgh Church of England Primary Academy (With Pre-School) | Academy | 3.2 miles | 179 | No overall grade 2024 | 91 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Diss Infant Academy and Nursery with the 48 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 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 14 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 14% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 6 to 32. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. 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% | below | -0.29 | Ofsted report card, 0.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.24 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | -0.05 | 2024/25; 73 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 Diss Infant Academy and Nursery a good school?
The figures are weak. Diss Infant Academy and Nursery scores 14 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 19% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 6 to 32, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Diss Infant Academy and Nursery's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 12 May 2026 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Diss Infant Academy and Nursery have?
115 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 210 places, so it is 55% full.
Is Diss Infant Academy and Nursery oversubscribed?
Probably not. 83 places were empty in 2024/25 (46% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Diss Infant Academy and Nursery?
Pupils were in school 93.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 8% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Diss Infant Academy and Nursery?
The average class had 24.8 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
- Fitzwalter Road, Diss, IP22 4PU
- Telephone
- 01379 642675
- Website
- www.dissinfant.stbenets.org
- Executive Headteacher
- Mrs Joanna Cerullo
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Diocese of Norwich St Benet's Multi-Academy Trust (19 schools)
- Local authority
- Norfolk
- Ward
- Diss & Roydon
- Constituency
- Waveney Valley
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 January 2019 (academy converter)
- URN
- 146692 · LAESTAB 9262049 · UKPRN 10082230
- Formerly
- Diss Infant and Nursery School with Children's Centre
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.
- 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.