Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School
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Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School is a converter academy in Exeter for boys and girls aged 3 to 7. It has 277 pupils and room for 350. About 15 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 1 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 requires improvement, back in 2023.
Ladysmith Road, Exeter, EX1 2PS01392 349141ladysmithinfant.stcmat.orgAnna Case headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 21 February 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Requires improvement overall.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
About 31 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up.
In 2026 every child who applied got a place, so how far away you live didn't matter. That could change if the school gets more popular.
We measure in a straight line from the middle of your postcode to the school. The council measures its own way, and the cut-off changes every year. Use this as a rough guide, and read the council's admissions booklet before you apply.
How places were given out for September 2026. Every child who applied got a place (73 offers for 90 places).
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: Moderate learning difficulty (17), language and communications needs (15), emotional and mental health (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), Physical disability (2), Hearing impairment (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 277 | 297 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 15% | 15% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 18% | 19% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 8% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 5% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 94.7% 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 | 5.3% | 5.0% | 5.2% | 6.4% | 4.0% | 3.5% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.2% | 4.4% | 4.5% | 5.9% | 3.6% | 3.0% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.6% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 15.2% | 14.7% | 11.8% | 17.8% | 13.8% | 7.2% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School, the school this one replaced in October 2024. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladysmith Junior School | Academy | 80 m | 340 | Requires improvement 2024 | 1 | Compare |
| St Michael's Church of England Primary Academy | Academy | 530 m | 455 | No overall grade 2025 | 60 | Compare |
| Newtown Primary School | Academy | 720 m | 128 | Requires improvement 2021 | 47 | Compare |
| Stoke Hill Infant and Nursery School | Council | 0.7 miles | 284 | No overall grade 2025 | 51 | Compare |
| St Sidwell's Church of England Primary School & Nursery | Academy | 0.7 miles | 201 | Report card 2026 | 96 | Compare |
| Whipton Barton Infants and Nursery School | Academy | 0.7 miles | 204 | Good 2023 | 9 | Compare |
| Whipton Barton Junior School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 212 | Good 2023 | 65 | Compare |
| Stoke Hill Junior School | Council | 0.8 miles | 349 | Good 2023 | 63 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School with the 46 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 46 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 46 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Ladysmith Infant & 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoke Hill Infant and Nursery School | Council | 0.7 miles | 284 | No overall grade 2025 | 51 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 1 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 1% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 0 to 2. 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 | 19% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | well below | -1.76 | Ofsted grade, 3.6 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | -0.04 | 2024/25; 171 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 Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School a good school?
The figures are weak. Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School scores 1 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 0 to 2, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School requires improvement at its last full inspection on 21 February 2023.
How many pupils does Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School have?
277 pupils aged 3 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 350 places, so it is 79% full.
Is Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 31 places were empty in 2024/25 (12% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School?
Pupils were in school 94.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 15% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Ladysmith Infant & Nursery School?
The average class had 27.7 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 10% of classes 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
- Ladysmith Road, Exeter, EX1 2PS
- Telephone
- 01392 349141
- Website
- www.ladysmithinfant.stcmat.org
- Headteacher
- Anna Case
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- St Christopher's C of E (Primary) Multi Academy Trust (21 schools)
- Local authority
- Devon
- Ward
- Heavitree
- Constituency
- Exeter
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 October 2024 (academy converter)
- URN
- 151327 · LAESTAB 8782026 · UKPRN 10096318
- Formerly
- Ladysmith Infant & 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.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Admissions outcomes: Devon council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
- 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.