Highfield Nursery School
Highfield Nursery School is a local authority nursery school in Ipswich for boys and girls aged 2 to 5. It has 102 pupils. About 6 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was outstanding, back in 2024.
Chesterfield Drive, Ipswich, IP1 6DW01473 742534highfield.suffolk.sch.ukMrs Ruth Coleman headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 14 May 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Outstanding overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 19 January 2023 | Ungraded | School remains Outstanding (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
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 Suffolk 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 (5), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2), language and communications needs (2), Hearing impairment (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 102 | 110 | 103 | 107 | 90 | 107 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 9% | 5% | 5% | 9% | 13% | 12% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 13% | 14% | 17% | 13% | 13% | 8% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 8% | 9% | 10% | 12% | 8% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 2% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
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 schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Pancras Catholic Primary School | Academy | 410 m | 153 | Good 2023 | 48 | Compare |
| The Beeches Community Primary School | Academy | 640 m | 393 | Good 2023 | 16 | Compare |
| Castle Hill Junior School | Academy | 810 m | 288 | Good 2024 | 20 | Compare |
| Castle Hill Infant School | Academy | 810 m | 251 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Thomas Wolsey Ormiston Academy | Academy | 820 m | 105 | Good 2021 | – | Compare |
| Whitehouse Community Primary School | Academy | 860 m | 551 | Not inspected | 27 | Compare |
| Dale Hall Community Primary School | Academy | 930 m | 412 | Good 2019 | 33 | Compare |
| Springfield Junior School | Academy | 940 m | 354 | No overall grade 2025 | 20 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Highfield Nursery School a good school?
Highfield Nursery School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it outstanding at its last inspection in May 2024.
What is Highfield Nursery School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Highfield Nursery School outstanding at its last full inspection on 14 May 2024.
How many pupils does Highfield Nursery School have?
102 pupils aged 2 to 5 were on the roll in January 2026.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Chesterfield Drive, Ipswich, IP1 6DW
- Telephone
- 01473 742534
- Website
- www.highfield.suffolk.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Ruth Coleman
- Type of school
- Local authority nursery school (Local authority nursery school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Nursery school, ages 2-5, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Suffolk
- Ward
- Castle Hill
- Constituency
- Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 124525 · LAESTAB 9351001
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.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- 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.