Motcombe Infants' School
similar schools
Motcombe Infants' School is a council school in Eastbourne for boys and girls aged 5 to 7. It has 219 pupils and room for 270. About 21 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit fewer than at most schools. We give it 13 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 13% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Macmillan Drive, Eastbourne, BN21 1SN01323 728901motcombe.e-sussex.sch.ukMrs Tracy Robinson headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 3 February 2023 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.
128 places were empty (36% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 14% 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 East Sussex 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 (11), Autistic spectrum disorder (10), emotional and mental health (8), Hearing impairment (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 219 | 227 | 230 | 250 | 265 | 298 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 21% | 18% | 23% | 21% | 25% | 21% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 24% | 27% | 13% | 13% | 16% | 18% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 13% | 14% | 9% | 10% | 8% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.7% 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 | 6.3% | 6.3% | 6.4% | 6.1% | 2.4% | 4.0% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.5% | 4.3% | 4.7% | 4.9% | 1.9% | 2.7% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.8% | 2.0% | 1.7% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 1.4% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 18.4% | 18.9% | 18.3% | 16.0% | 4.7% | 6.9% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 1 | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cavendish School | Academy | 260 m | 1,399 | No overall grade 2025 | 84 | Compare |
| Pashley Down Infant School | Council | 730 m | 230 | Good 2024 | 22 | Compare |
| Ocklynge Junior School | Academy | 940 m | 720 | No overall grade 2024 | 21 | Compare |
| Gildredge House | Free school | 0.7 miles | 1,169 | No overall grade 2024 | 66 | Compare |
| St Thomas A Becket Catholic Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 432 | Good 2022 | – | Compare |
| Stafford Junior School | Academy | 1.2 miles | 355 | Good 2024 | 50 | Compare |
| Bourne Primary School | Council | 1.4 miles | 414 | Requires improvement 2024 | 1 | Compare |
| Parkland Infant School | Academy | 1.5 miles | 178 | Report card 2026 | 15 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Motcombe Infants' School with the 45 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 45 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 45 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Motcombe Infants' 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roselands Infants' School | Academy | 1.5 miles | 244 | Good 2023 | 51 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 13 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 13% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 6 to 30. 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 | 19% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 3.6 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% | 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 Motcombe Infants' School a good school?
The figures are weak. Motcombe Infants' School scores 13 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 13% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 6 to 30, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Motcombe Infants' School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Motcombe Infants' School good at its last full inspection on 3 February 2023.
How many pupils does Motcombe Infants' School have?
219 pupils aged 5 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 270 places, so it is 81% full.
Is Motcombe Infants' School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 128 places were empty in 2024/25 (36% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Motcombe Infants' School?
Pupils were in school 93.7% 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 Motcombe Infants' School?
The average class had 24.0 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
- Macmillan Drive, Eastbourne, BN21 1SN
- Telephone
- 01323 728901
- Website
- www.motcombe.e-sussex.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Tracy Robinson
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 5-7
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- East Sussex
- Ward
- Old Town
- Constituency
- Eastbourne
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 114460 · LAESTAB 8452136 · UKPRN 10076452
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.