Queensway Infant Academy
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Queensway Infant Academy is a sponsored academy in Thetford for boys and girls aged 4 to 7. It has 101 pupils and room for 177. About 44 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 5 out of 100. That puts it well below schools like it, ahead of 15% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in May 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Queensway, Thetford, IP24 3DR01842 753163queenswayinfant.co.ukMrs Abigail Wright headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 12 May 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 27 April 2022 | Academy First Section 5 | Requires improvement |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
78 places were empty (44% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in.
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 Norfolk 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 (30), emotional and mental health (18), Autistic spectrum disorder (1), Moderate learning difficulty (1), Multi-sensory impairment (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 101 | 111 | 148 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 44% | 46% | 48% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 23% | 23% | 20% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 30% | 25% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 91.8% 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 | 8.3% | 8.6% | 6.9% | 8.0% | 5.7% | 4.9% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 6.2% | 6.1% | 5.1% | 6.7% | 4.9% | 3.9% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.1% | 2.5% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 1.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 24.3% | 31.9% | 23.4% | 24.0% | 19.6% | 12.3% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 9.0 | 25.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Queensway Infant Academy and Nursery, the school this one replaced in May 2023. 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queensway Junior Academy | Academy | 80 m | 141 | Report card 2026 | 6 | Compare |
| Redcastle Family School | Council | 710 m | 277 | Good 2022 | 57 | Compare |
| Norwich Road Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 317 | No overall grade 2024 | 29 | Compare |
| The Bishop's Church of England Primary Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 330 | No overall grade 2025 | 3 | Compare |
| Drake Primary School | Council | 1.2 miles | 413 | Report card 2026 | 7 | Compare |
| Admirals Academy | Academy | 1.3 miles | 201 | Good 2024 | 28 | Compare |
| Raleigh Infant Academy | Academy | 1.3 miles | 143 | Good 2022 | 42 | Compare |
| Barnham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | Church of England | 2.0 miles | 155 | Good 2022 | 36 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Queensway Infant Academy 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.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 5 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 5% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 2 to 13. 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 | 20% | below | -0.19 | Ofsted report card, 0.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.35 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well below | -0.39 | 2024/25; 74 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 Queensway Infant Academy a good school?
The figures are weak. Queensway Infant Academy scores 5 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 15% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 2 to 13, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Queensway Infant Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 12 May 2026 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Queensway Infant Academy have?
101 pupils aged 4 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 177 places, so it is 57% full.
Is Queensway Infant Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 78 places were empty in 2024/25 (44% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Queensway Infant Academy?
Pupils were in school 91.8% 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 Queensway Infant Academy?
The average class had 20.2 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
- Queensway, Thetford, IP24 3DR
- Telephone
- 01842 753163
- Website
- www.queenswayinfant.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Abigail Wright
- Type of school
- Sponsored academy (Academy sponsor led, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 4-7
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Inspiration Trust (18 schools)
- Local authority
- Norfolk
- Ward
- Thetford Burrell
- Constituency
- South West Norfolk
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 May 2023 (fresh start)
- URN
- 149896 · LAESTAB 9262250 · UKPRN 10092772
- Formerly
- Queensway Infant Academy and 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.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 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.