Widcombe Infant School
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Widcombe Infant School is a converter academy in Bath for boys and girls aged 5 to 7. It has 182 pupils, 2 more than it has places for. About 9 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 65 out of 100. That puts it in line with schools like it, ahead of 32% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in January 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Archway Street, Bath, BA2 4JG01225 421998widcombeinfantschool.co.ukMiss Alison Watts headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 6 January 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 3 November 2021 | S5 Inspection | Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
The school is full. More families apply than can get in, so things like how close you live and whether an older brother or sister is already here decide who gets a place. Pupil numbers have stayed about the same since 2021/22.
How places were given out for September 2026.
What parents say
From Ofsted's Parent View survey: 137 parents answered in the year to 6 April 2026. Parents choose whether to fill it in, and many only do so when an inspection is coming, so don't read too much into small differences. The England figures are the average for primary schools with enough answers to publish.
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: Moderate learning difficulty (8), language and communications needs (7), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Other difficulty or disability (3), emotional and mental health (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 182 | 178 | 177 | 181 | 180 | 176 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 9% | 11% | 8% | 7% | 6% | 5% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 20% | 22% | 22% | 16% | 11% | 14% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 6% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 7% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 96.0% 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 | 4.1% | 3.3% | 3.5% | 3.3% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.3% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 3.3% | 2.6% | 2.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 4.7% | 3.3% | 4.9% | 4.1% | 7.0% | 1.6% | 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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Widcombe CofE Junior School | Academy | 60 m | 243 | No overall grade 2025 | 96 | Compare |
| Bathwick St Mary Church School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 220 | Good 2022 | 78 | Compare |
| St Andrew's Church School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 231 | Good 2022 | 47 | Compare |
| St John's Catholic Primary School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 325 | Good 2023 | – | Compare |
| Oldfield Park Infant School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 178 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Mulberry Park Educate Together Primary Academy | Free school | 1.1 miles | 172 | Good 2022 | 30 | Compare |
| Moorlands Infant School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 177 | Good 2023 | 84 | Compare |
| Moorlands Junior School | Academy | 1.2 miles | 236 | Good 2023 | 38 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Widcombe Infant School with the 47 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 47 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 65 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 65% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 39 to 83. 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 | -0.06 | Ofsted report card, 0.7 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | below | -0.10 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | above | +0.20 | 2024/25; 127 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 5% | well above | +0.13 | Ofsted's Parent View survey, allowing for how many parents replied; 137 responses |
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 Widcombe Infant School a good school?
It is about average. Widcombe Infant School scores 65 out of 100. That is in line with schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 32% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 39 to 83, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Widcombe Infant School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 6 January 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 Widcombe Infant School have?
182 pupils aged 5 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 180 places, so it is 101% full.
Is Widcombe Infant School oversubscribed?
Probably. The school was full in 2024/25. How close you live, and the school's other admissions rules, decide who gets in.
What is attendance like at Widcombe Infant School?
Pupils were in school 96.0% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 5% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
What do parents say about Widcombe Infant School?
99% of the 137 parents who answered Ofsted's Parent View survey would recommend it to other parents, and 99% say their child is happy there. Across England, 87% of parents would recommend their child's school.
How big are the classes at Widcombe Infant School?
The average class had 30.0 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 25% of classes 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
- Archway Street, Bath, BA2 4JG
- Telephone
- 01225 421998
- Website
- www.widcombeinfantschool.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Miss Alison Watts
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 5-7
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Palladian Academy Trust (13 schools)
- Local authority
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Ward
- Widcombe & Lyncombe
- Constituency
- Bath
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 August 2016 (academy converter)
- URN
- 143010 · LAESTAB 8002162 · UKPRN 10057096
- Formerly
- Widcombe 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: Bath and North East Somerset council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2025, 2026.
- 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.