Herne Bay Infant School
Herne Bay Infant School is a council school in Herne Bay for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 259 pupils and room for 290. About 44 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England.
Stanley Road, Herne Bay, CT6 5SH01227 372245herne-bay.kent.sch.ukMs Nicky Brown headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
About 30 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have fallen by 9% 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 Kent council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (21), emotional and mental health (9), language and communications needs (5), Specific learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 259 | 276 | 302 | 304 | 310 | 324 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 39% | 35% | 35% | 33% | 31% | 29% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 14% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 11% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 12% | 15% | 9% | 11% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 1% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.3% 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 | 6.7% | 6.4% | 5.7% | 6.4% | 4.5% | 6.1% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.6% | 4.2% | 3.9% | 4.4% | 3.0% | 4.6% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.1% | 2.2% | 1.8% | 2.0% | 1.5% | 1.5% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 24.1% | 16.4% | 15.1% | 16.5% | 10.4% | 14.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 10.9 | 6.6 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.9 | – | – |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herne Bay Junior School | Foundation | 60 m | 371 | No overall grade 2025 | 2 | Compare |
| Hampton Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 679 | No overall grade 2024 | 14 | Compare |
| Herne Church of England Junior School | Church of England | 1.2 miles | 375 | Outstanding 2023 | 97 | Compare |
| Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School | Church of England | 1.3 miles | 318 | Report card 2026 | 24 | Compare |
| Thornden Wood Primary School | Academy | 1.4 miles | 337 | Good 2024 | 70 | Compare |
| Reculver Church of England Primary School | Academy | 2.0 miles | 444 | Not inspected | 38 | Compare |
| Hoath Primary School | Council | 2.7 miles | 106 | Report card 2026 | 61 | Compare |
| Swalecliffe Community Primary School | Foundation | 3.1 miles | 492 | Good 2023 | 18 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Herne Bay Infant School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Herne Bay Infant School yet.
How many pupils does Herne Bay Infant School have?
259 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 290 places, so it is 89% full.
Is Herne Bay Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 30 places were empty in 2024/25 (11% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Herne Bay Infant School?
Pupils were in school 93.3% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 24% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Herne Bay Infant School?
The average class had 27.7 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
- Stanley Road, Herne Bay, CT6 5SH
- Telephone
- 01227 372245
- Website
- www.herne-bay.kent.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Nicky Brown
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Kent
- Ward
- Heron
- Constituency
- Herne Bay and Sandwich
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 118359 · LAESTAB 8862263 · UKPRN 10074072
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.