Westmeads Community Infant School
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Westmeads Community Infant School is a council school in Whitstable for boys and girls aged 2 to 7. It has 183 pupils and room for 219. About 22 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, a bit fewer than at most schools. We give it 95 out of 100. That puts it well above schools like it, ahead of 98% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Cromwell Road, Whitstable, CT5 1NA01227 272995westmeads.kent.sch.ukMs Kirsty White headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 7 January 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
36 places were empty (20% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. 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: language and communications needs (13), Autistic spectrum disorder (11), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (7), Hearing impairment (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 183 | 140 | 143 | 156 | 156 | 170 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 20% | 24% | 19% | 23% | 18% | 16% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 7% | 9% | 8% | 10% | 4% | 5% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 19% | 16% | 10% | 8% | 9% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 3% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.6% 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 | 4.4% | 4.2% | 5.5% | 4.6% | 1.6% | 3.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.7% | 3.5% | 4.7% | 3.8% | 1.3% | 2.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.8% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 6.9% | 10.4% | 10.7% | 10.4% | 2.5% | 5.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed Church of England Junior School | Church of England | 350 m | 226 | Outstanding 2022 | 82 | Compare |
| St Alphege Church of England Infant School | Church of England | 570 m | 206 | Good 2024 | 24 | Compare |
| Whitstable Junior School | Foundation | 580 m | 202 | Not inspected | 37 | Compare |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Whitstable | Academy | 620 m | 301 | Good 2023 | 55 | Compare |
| Joy Lane Primary Foundation School | Foundation | 0.9 miles | 621 | Good 2024 | 34 | Compare |
| Swalecliffe Community Primary School | Foundation | 1.3 miles | 492 | Good 2023 | 18 | Compare |
| Thornden Wood Primary School | Academy | 3.1 miles | 337 | Good 2024 | 70 | Compare |
| Hampton Primary School | Academy | 3.3 miles | 679 | No overall grade 2024 | 14 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Westmeads Community 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.
No school with a similar mix of pupils within 25 km scores clearly higher.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 95 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 95% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 87 to 98. 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% | well above | +1.01 | Ofsted grade, 1.7 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.25 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | above | +0.15 | 2024/25; 102 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 Westmeads Community Infant School a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Westmeads Community Infant School scores 95 out of 100. That is well above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 98% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 87 to 98, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Westmeads Community Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Westmeads Community Infant School not judged at its last full inspection on 7 January 2025.
How many pupils does Westmeads Community Infant School have?
183 pupils aged 2 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 219 places, so it is 84% full.
Is Westmeads Community Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 36 places were empty in 2024/25 (20% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Westmeads Community Infant School?
Pupils were in school 95.6% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 7% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Westmeads Community Infant School?
The average class had 24.2 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 17% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Westmeads Community 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
- Cromwell Road, Whitstable, CT5 1NA
- Telephone
- 01227 272995
- Website
- www.westmeads.kent.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Kirsty White
- 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
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Kent
- Ward
- Gorrell
- Constituency
- Canterbury
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 118363 · LAESTAB 8862268 · UKPRN 10074071
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.
- 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.