St. Joseph's Infant School
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St. Joseph's Infant School is a converter academy in Chichester for boys and girls aged 2 to 7. It has 129 pupils and room for 135. About 17 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 7% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Orchard Street, Chichester, PO19 1DQ01243 783709stjosephsinfant.schoolMrs Nicola Metcalfe headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 9 November 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, although the inspectors did raise some concerns, so a full inspection will follow. 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.
About 20 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have grown by 39% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
In 2025 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 2025. Every child who applied got a place (54 offers for 45 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: language and communications needs (9), emotional and mental health (3), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), Moderate learning difficulty (1), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 129 | 152 | 152 | 112 | 77 | 69 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 16% | 22% | 17% | 21% | 26% | 26% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 30% | 28% | 28% | 17% | 16% | 7% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 13% | 13% | 11% | 12% | 9% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 4% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.8% 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 | 9.2% | 8.3% | 7.5% | 8.9% | 3.4% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.8% | 5.8% | 4.6% | 6.3% | 2.3% | 3.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.5% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 2.6% | 1.1% | 2.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 32.0% | 29.3% | 32.0% | 29.5% | 9.1% | 21.2% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 7.9 | 5.3 | 0.0 | 3.9 | 2.9 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Lancastrian Infant School, the school this one replaced in December 2020. 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph's CofE Junior School | Academy | 90 m | 165 | Good 2022 | 3 | Compare |
| Parklands Community Primary School | Council | 520 m | 426 | Good 2023 | 35 | Compare |
| St Richard's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 960 m | – | Good 2022 | – | Compare |
| Jessie Younghusband Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 213 | Good 2024 | 74 | Compare |
| Portfield Primary Academy | Academy | 0.9 miles | 288 | Report card 2026 | 7 | Compare |
| Rumboldswhyke CofE Primary School | Academy | 1.0 miles | 127 | Good 2023 | 4 | Compare |
| Kingsham Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 270 | Good 2020 | 72 | Compare |
| Fishbourne CofE Primary School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 210 | Not inspected | 93 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares St. Joseph's Infant 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 St. Joseph's Infant 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southsea Infant School | Council | 13.5 miles | 167 | Report card 2026 | 7 | 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: 1 to 3. 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 | -0.37 | Ofsted grade, 2.8 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.60 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well below | -0.54 | 2024/25; 100 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 St. Joseph's Infant School a good school?
The figures are weak. St. Joseph's Infant School scores 1 out of 100. That is well below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 7% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 1 to 3, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is St. Joseph's Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St. Joseph's Infant School good at its last full inspection on 9 November 2023.
How many pupils does St. Joseph's Infant School have?
129 pupils aged 2 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 135 places, so it is 96% full.
Is St. Joseph's Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 20 places were empty in 2024/25 (15% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at St. Joseph's Infant School?
Pupils were in school 90.8% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 32% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at St. Joseph's Infant School?
The average class had 18.4 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
- Orchard Street, Chichester, PO19 1DQ
- Telephone
- 01243 783709
- Website
- www.stjosephsinfant.school
- Headteacher
- Mrs Nicola Metcalfe
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust (28 schools)
- Local authority
- West Sussex
- Ward
- Chichester West
- Constituency
- Chichester
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 December 2020 (academy converter)
- URN
- 148286 · LAESTAB 9382012 · UKPRN 10087336
- Formerly
- Lancastrian Infant 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: West Sussex council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2023, 2024, 2025.
- 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.