Featherby Infant and Nursery School
similar schools
Featherby Infant and Nursery School is a converter academy in Gillingham for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 282 pupils, 12 more than it has places for. About 26 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. We give it 11 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 20% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Allington Road, Gillingham, ME8 6PD01634 231072featherby-inf.medway.sch.ukMrs Emma Pape head of schoolAll 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 17 November 2021 | Ungraded | School remains Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
About 25 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have stayed about the same since 2021/22.
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 Medway 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 (51), Other difficulty or disability (8), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (4), emotional and mental health (4), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Moderate learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 282 | 303 | 299 | 297 | 298 | 297 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 28% | 34% | 34% | 32% | 30% | 28% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 10% | 6% | 5% | 2% | 4% | 5% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 22% | 10% | 11% | 14% | 10% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.5% 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 | 6.5% | 6.2% | 6.3% | 6.2% | 3.4% | 4.9% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.4% | 4.4% | 4.5% | 4.7% | 2.2% | 3.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1.6% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 17.8% | 20.8% | 22.8% | 18.8% | 5.9% | 13.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Featherby Junior School | Academy | 180 m | 348 | Good 2022 | 35 | Compare |
| The Academy of Woodlands | Academy | 700 m | 758 | No overall grade 2025 | 24 | Compare |
| Twydall Primary School and Nursery | Academy | 740 m | 245 | Good 2023 | 14 | Compare |
| St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School | Academy | 880 m | 237 | Good 2023 | 72 | Compare |
| Barnsole Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 609 | Good 2024 | 8 | Compare |
| Napier Community Primary and Nursery Academy | Academy | 1.1 miles | 597 | Good 2019 | 86 | Compare |
| Thames View Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 459 | Good 2023 | 71 | Compare |
| Byron Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 502 | No overall grade 2024 | 14 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Featherby Infant and Nursery School with the 49 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 49 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 49 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Featherby Infant and 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canvey Primary School and Nursery | Council | 9.8 miles | 239 | Good 2023 | 82 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 11 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 11% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 5 to 26. 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 | -0.17 | Ofsted report card, 0.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.31 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | below | -0.17 | 2024/25; 174 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 Featherby Infant and Nursery School a good school?
The figures are weak. Featherby Infant and Nursery School scores 11 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 20% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 5 to 26, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Featherby Infant and Nursery School'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 Featherby Infant and Nursery School have?
282 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 270 places, so it is 104% full.
Is Featherby Infant and Nursery School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 25 places were empty in 2024/25 (9% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Featherby Infant and Nursery School?
Pupils were in school 93.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 18% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Featherby Infant and Nursery School?
The average class had 21.7 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
- Allington Road, Gillingham, ME8 6PD
- Telephone
- 01634 231072
- Website
- www.featherby-inf.medway.sch.uk
- Head of School
- Mrs Emma Pape
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Maritime Academy Trust (13 schools)
- Local authority
- Medway
- Ward
- Twydall
- Constituency
- Gillingham and Rainham
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2017 (academy converter)
- URN
- 145042 · LAESTAB 8872401 · UKPRN 10065161
- Formerly
- Featherby Infant and Nursery School
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.