Elmwood Infant School
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Elmwood Infant School is a council school in Croydon for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 357 pupils and room for 412. About 30 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit more than at most schools. We give it 6 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 0% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Lodge Road, Lodge Road, Croydon, CR0 2PL020 8689 7681elmwoodinfants.co.ukMiss Helen Hayes headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 17 July 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference. Pupil numbers have fallen by 3% 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 Croydon 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 (43), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (19), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), emotional and mental health (4).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 357 | 380 | 389 | 392 | 395 | 392 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 30% | 31% | 30% | 34% | 32% | 30% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 76% | 82% | 79% | 82% | 77% | 78% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 11% | 14% | 13% | 14% | 13% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.6% 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 | 7.4% | 7.0% | 6.7% | 6.0% | 3.7% | 4.1% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.3% | 4.5% | 4.7% | 4.3% | 2.5% | 2.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.2% | 2.4% | 2.0% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 1.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 29.9% | 20.8% | 20.8% | 15.3% | 7.1% | 8.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | – | – |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmwood Junior School | Council | 0 m | 464 | Good 2023 | 51 | Compare |
| Chestnut Park Primary School | Academy | 250 m | 608 | Not inspected | 6 | Compare |
| Ecclesbourne Primary School | Academy | 680 m | 417 | Good 2023 | 48 | Compare |
| Harris Primary Academy Croydon | Academy | 960 m | 414 | Outstanding 2023 | 90 | Compare |
| St. Mary's Catholic Junior School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 216 | Good 2023 | 87 | Compare |
| Broadmead Primary School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 394 | Good 2023 | 21 | Compare |
| St Mary's Catholic Infant School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 193 | Good 2022 | 71 | Compare |
| The Crescent Primary School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 318 | Good 2024 | 21 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Elmwood Infant School 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.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 48 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Elmwood Infant 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winterbourne Nursery and Infants' School | Council | 1.0 miles | 372 | Good 2023 | 30 | Compare |
| St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 2.6 miles | 408 | Good 2023 | 77 | Compare |
| Albemarle Primary School | Foundation | 6.1 miles | 348 | Good 2023 | 27 | Compare |
| Royal Wharf Primary School | Free school | 9.8 miles | 439 | Good 2023 | 61 | Compare |
| Roman Road Primary School | Council | 11.4 miles | 310 | Good 2023 | 92 | Compare |
| Islamia Primary School | Muslim | 11.5 miles | 420 | Report card 2026 | 49 | Compare |
| West Ham Church Primary School | Church of England | 11.6 miles | 273 | Report card 2026 | 20 | Compare |
| Upton Cross Primary School | Academy | 11.9 miles | 414 | Good 2020 | 35 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 6 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 6% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 3 to 15. 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% | in line | +0.03 | Ofsted grade, 2.2 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.44 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well below | -0.45 | 2024/25; 258 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 Elmwood Infant School a good school?
The figures are weak. Elmwood Infant School scores 6 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 0% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 3 to 15, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Elmwood Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Elmwood Infant School good at its last full inspection on 17 July 2024.
How many pupils does Elmwood Infant School have?
357 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 412 places, so it is 87% full.
Is Elmwood Infant School oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at Elmwood Infant School?
Pupils were in school 92.6% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 30% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Elmwood Infant School?
The average class had 23.3 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
- Lodge Road, Lodge Road, Croydon, CR0 2PL
- Telephone
- 020 8689 7681
- Website
- www.elmwoodinfants.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Miss Helen Hayes
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Croydon
- Ward
- Broad Green
- Constituency
- Croydon West
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 101721 · LAESTAB 3062014 · UKPRN 10071940
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.