Merton Infant School and Nursery

Merton Infant School is a highly inclusive and nurturing infant school where pupils are exceptionally well cared for and achieve well. Inspectors found behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management to be outstanding, while the quality of education and early years provision are good. The school’s MERTON values are embedded in daily life, pupils attend regularly, and the curriculum is designed to broaden experiences and build learning over time. Leaders are ambitious and reflective, using research and external expertise well, and governors hold the school to account. Support for pupils who speak English as an additional language is exceptional, with young interpreters and explicit language teaching; pupils with SEND are carefully identified and generally well supported. Early reading and phonics are strong, and most pupils become confident, fluent readers by the end of Year 2. The main areas for improvement concern the pre-school, which the school took over in April 2024 and which is not yet as strong as Reception. Its curriculum is still developing, provision for two-year-olds and children with SEND needs sharper focus, and adults’ support for spoken language during play is inconsistent. In the main school, recent changes to writing and mathematics are not fully embedded, and some skills in a few subjects are not fully covered.

Strengths

• Caring, family-like culture that helps all pupils feel settled and valued
• Exceptional support for pupils who speak English as an additional language
• Strong provision for pupils with SEND, underpinned by careful identification and understanding of needs
• Outstanding personal development and well-being, including pupils’ emotional self-regulation
• Pupils’ impressive understanding of their place in the world and how they can make it better
• Embedded MERTON values that promote motivation, respect, teamwork and resilience
• Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, with regular attendance and positive relationships
• Effective early reading and phonics teaching, with well-targeted extra support
• Broad, well-designed curriculum enriched by books, visits and real/virtual experiences
• Strong leadership, staff development and governor accountability
• Effective safeguarding arrangements

Areas for Improvement

• Pre-school provision is not yet as strong as Reception and its curriculum is still developing
• Support for children with SEND is not as strong in pre-school
• Provision for two-year-olds is not sufficiently distinct from that for older children
• Adults’ support for spoken language during pre-school play is inconsistent
• Some skills are not fully covered in a few subjects
• Recent writing and mathematics curriculum changes are not yet fully embedded
• The ambitions for the main school curriculum are not fully realised

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Merton Infant School and Nursery attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.7% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.9% of pupils at Merton Infant School and Nursery were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Merton Infant School and Nursery had 28.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 15.7% of pupils at Merton Infant School and Nursery were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Merton Infant School and Nursery received £8,067 and spent £7,705 for each of its 198 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £75,000 (£379 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Basingstoke · Hampshire local authority: places and applications

What is Merton Infant School and Nursery's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Merton Infant School and Nursery is Good, from an inspection in September 2025.

When was Merton Infant School and Nursery last inspected by Ofsted?

Merton Infant School and Nursery was last inspected in September 2025.

How many pupils does Merton Infant School and Nursery have?

Merton Infant School and Nursery has 216 pupils on roll.

What age range does Merton Infant School and Nursery cover?

Merton Infant School and Nursery for pupils aged 2 to 7.

Where is Merton Infant School and Nursery?

Merton Infant School and Nursery is at Romsey Close, Popley Way, Popley, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24 9HB.