Penbridge Infant School & Nursery
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Penbridge Infant School & Nursery is a converter academy in Portsmouth for boys and girls aged 2 to 7. It has 207 pupils and room for 238. About 36 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 20 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 29% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2022.
Lincoln Road, Fratton, Portsmouth, PO1 5BG0333 360 2185penbridgeschool.org.ukMrs Anna Webb headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 15 September 2022 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.
The school is full, with 9 more pupils than it has places for. More families apply than can get in, so things like how close you live and whether an older brother or sister is already here decide who gets a place. Pupil numbers have grown by 13% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
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 Portsmouth 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.
Specialist SEND provision. SEN unit with 24 pupils, for moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Portsmouth with moderate learning difficulties provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (31), emotional and mental health (26), Moderate learning difficulty (15), Autistic spectrum disorder (9), Hearing impairment (1), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 207 | 207 | 221 | 219 | 209 | 199 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 30% | 25% | 21% | 23% | 31% | 37% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 28% | 30% | 36% | 42% | 36% | 33% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 21% | 20% | 6% | 10% | 11% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 16% | 13% | 10% | 5% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 94.6% 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 | 5.4% | 6.7% | 7.1% | 4.8% | 2.9% | 3.9% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.6% | 4.6% | 5.0% | 4.0% | 2.3% | 2.6% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.8% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 0.9% | 0.5% | 1.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 15.3% | 16.1% | 22.6% | 8.7% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 12.1 | 16.3 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St John's Cathedral Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 600 m | 237 | Good 2022 | 82 | Compare |
| Arundel Court Primary Academy and Nursery | Academy | 640 m | 668 | Report card 2026 | 1 | Compare |
| Fernhurst Junior School | Council | 660 m | 349 | Good 2023 | 32 | Compare |
| Ark Ayrton Primary Academy | Academy | 670 m | 495 | Good 2024 | 67 | Compare |
| Devonshire Infant School | Council | 710 m | 171 | Report card 2026 | 13 | Compare |
| Bramble Infant School and Nursery | Council | 770 m | 162 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Manor Infant and Nursery School | Council | 950 m | 232 | Good 2024 | 28 | Compare |
| Ark Dickens Primary Academy | Academy | 1000 m | 446 | Good 2019 | 46 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Penbridge Infant School & Nursery with the 48 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 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 20 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 20% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 8 to 43. 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 | 18% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 4.0 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.38 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | -0.06 | 2024/25; 144 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 Penbridge Infant School & Nursery a good school?
The figures are weak. Penbridge Infant School & Nursery scores 20 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 29% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 8 to 43, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Penbridge Infant School & Nursery's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Penbridge Infant School & Nursery good at its last full inspection on 15 September 2022.
How many pupils does Penbridge Infant School & Nursery have?
207 pupils aged 2 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 238 places, so it is 87% full.
Is Penbridge Infant School & Nursery oversubscribed?
Probably. The school was full in 2024/25, with 9 more pupils than places. How close you live, and the school's other admissions rules, decide who gets in.
What is attendance like at Penbridge Infant School & Nursery?
Pupils were in school 94.6% 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 Penbridge Infant School & Nursery?
The average class had 17.7 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does Penbridge Infant School & Nursery have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It has sen unit for moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Lincoln Road, Fratton, Portsmouth, PO1 5BG
- Telephone
- 0333 360 2185
- Website
- penbridgeschool.org.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Anna Webb
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Thinking Schools Academy Trust (26 schools)
- Local authority
- Portsmouth
- Ward
- Fratton
- Constituency
- Portsmouth South
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2018 (academy converter)
- URN
- 145659 · LAESTAB 8512697 · UKPRN 10067260
- Formerly
- Penhale Infant School & Nursery
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.