Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy
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Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy is a converter academy in Chesterfield for boys and girls aged 2 to 7. It has 68 pupils and room for 120. About 53 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 34 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 79% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2022.
Scarsdale Road, Whittington Moor, Chesterfield, S41 8NF01246 450634whittingtonmoor.academyMrs Joanne Mappin headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 8 June 2022, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
52 places were empty (46% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 9% since 2021/22.
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 Derbyshire 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 (4), emotional and mental health (3), Specific learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 68 | 74 | 86 | 85 | 75 | 83 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 50% | 57% | 54% | 54% | 49% | 40% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 3% | 7% | 8% | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 14% | 15% | 25% | 15% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 4% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 95.1% 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 | 4.9% | 5.0% | 4.0% | 4.7% | 3.7% | 4.0% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 2.9% | 3.9% | 3.2% | 4.1% | 2.6% | 3.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.0% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 0.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 14.3% | 20.0% | 6.7% | 10.0% | 8.5% | 6.5% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.8 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | – |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavendish Junior School | Council | 260 m | 86 | Report card 2026 | 20 | Compare |
| Newbold CofE Primary School | Academy | 830 m | 218 | Good 2022 | 75 | Compare |
| Dunston Primary and Nursery Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 227 | No overall grade 2025 | 6 | Compare |
| Mary Swanwick Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 239 | Good 2022 | 75 | Compare |
| Highfield Hall Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 375 | Not inspected | 10 | Compare |
| Christ Church CofE Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 198 | Not inspected | 83 | Compare |
| Brimington Junior School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 282 | Not inspected | 94 | Compare |
| Abercrombie Primary School | Council | 1.2 miles | 253 | Not inspected | 84 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy 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 34 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 34% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 14 to 65. 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 | 17% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 4.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.12 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | below | -0.11 | 2024/25; 49 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 Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy a good school?
The figures are weak. Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy scores 34 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 79% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 14 to 65, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy good at its last full inspection on 8 June 2022. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How many pupils does Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy have?
68 pupils aged 2 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 120 places, so it is 57% full.
Is Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 52 places were empty in 2024/25 (46% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy?
Pupils were in school 95.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 14% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy?
The average class had 17.0 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does Whittington Moor Nursery and Infant Academy 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
- Scarsdale Road, Whittington Moor, Chesterfield, S41 8NF
- Telephone
- 01246 450634
- Website
- www.whittingtonmoor.academy
- Headteacher
- Mrs Joanne Mappin
- 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 2-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Minerva Learning Trust (10 schools)
- Local authority
- Derbyshire
- Ward
- Dunston
- Constituency
- Chesterfield
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 March 2018 (academy converter)
- URN
- 145520 · LAESTAB 8302287 · UKPRN 10066969
- Formerly
- Gilbert Heathcote Nursery and 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.
- 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.