St Stephen's Infant School
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St Stephen's Infant School is a converter academy in Canterbury for boys and girls aged 5 to 7. It has 263 pupils and room for 270. About 33 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit more than at most schools. We give it 49 out of 100. That puts it in line with schools like it, ahead of 57% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Hales Drive, St Stephen's, Canterbury, CT2 7AB01227 769204turnerststephensinfant.comMrs Alice Edgington executive headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 23 January 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2 October 2019 | Ungraded | School remains Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
About 19 places were empty, so most families who apply get in, though a popular year group can still fill up. Pupil numbers have fallen by 7% 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 Kent 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: Autistic spectrum disorder (18), Other difficulty or disability (9), language and communications needs (6), emotional and mental health (4), Hearing impairment (1), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 263 | 254 | 269 | 269 | 267 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 33% | 33% | 32% | 28% | 30% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 36% | 34% | 29% | 29% | 23% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 12% | 10% | 12% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 2% | 0% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 93.1% 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 | 7.0% | 6.3% | 6.7% | 7.8% | 4.0% | 4.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.9% | 4.0% | 3.9% | 5.9% | 2.7% | 3.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.1% | 2.4% | 2.7% | 1.9% | 1.4% | 0.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 21.5% | 18.5% | 17.6% | 27.3% | 12.0% | 7.5% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | – | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for St Stephen's Infant School, the school this one replaced in April 2021. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
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 Stephen's Junior School | Academy | 80 m | 400 | Good 2023 | 12 | Compare |
| St Johns Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 900 m | 427 | Good 2024 | 4 | Compare |
| St Thomas' Catholic Primary School, Canterbury | Roman Catholic | 0.8 miles | 210 | Good 2023 | 85 | Compare |
| St Peter's Methodist Primary School | Methodist | 0.8 miles | 208 | Not inspected | 60 | Compare |
| Parkside Community Foundation Primary School | Foundation | 1.2 miles | 161 | Good 2023 | 3 | Compare |
| The Canterbury Primary School | Academy | 1.3 miles | 421 | Good 2022 | 9 | Compare |
| Blean Primary School | Council | 1.3 miles | 449 | Outstanding 2022 | 98 | Compare |
| Wincheap Foundation Primary School | Foundation | 1.6 miles | 429 | Good 2021 | 59 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares St Stephen's Infant School with the 49 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 49 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 49 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 49% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 23 to 75. 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 | 20% | in line | +0.03 | Ofsted grade, 2.6 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | above | +0.22 | results and attendance rising year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well below | -0.27 | 2024/25; 191 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 Stephen's Infant School a good school?
It is about average. St Stephen's Infant School scores 49 out of 100. That is in line with schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 57% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 23 to 75, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been getting better over the last five years.
What is St Stephen's Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St Stephen's Infant School good at its last full inspection on 23 January 2024.
How many pupils does St Stephen's Infant School have?
263 pupils aged 5 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 270 places, so it is 97% full.
Is St Stephen's Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 19 places were empty in 2024/25 (7% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at St Stephen's Infant School?
Pupils were in school 93.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 21% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at St Stephen's Infant School?
The average class had 29.2 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does St Stephen's Infant School have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hales Drive, St Stephen's, Canterbury, CT2 7AB
- Telephone
- 01227 769204
- Website
- www.turnerststephensinfant.com
- Executive Headteacher
- Mrs Alice Edgington
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 5-7
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Turner Schools (8 schools)
- Local authority
- Kent
- Ward
- St Stephen's
- Constituency
- Canterbury
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2021 (academy converter)
- URN
- 148501 · LAESTAB 8862611 · UKPRN 10088094
- Formerly
- St Stephen's 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.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.