Balfour Infant School

Balfour Infant School is a friendly, inclusive school where pupils are happy, feel safe and achieve well. Inspectors found strong provision across education, behaviour, personal development, leadership and early years, with effective safeguarding. Pupils benefit from a broad, recently reviewed curriculum, strong reading and phonics teaching, good support for pupils with SEND, and a calm, respectful culture with high behavioural expectations. Children in Reception settle quickly and are well supported. Leaders have made the curriculum more ambitious, and in well-established subjects pupils can recall and discuss their learning in detail. However, in some curriculum areas the most important knowledge and skills have not yet been fully identified. As a result, assessment is not consistently used to check understanding, embed knowledge or adapt teaching, and pupils do not always make links across subjects. The school should continue refining these areas so pupils achieve equally well across the whole curriculum. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the school received no overall effectiveness grade under the current inspection framework. It is a community infant school for pupils aged 5 to 7.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, feel safe and are warmly welcomed into a friendly, inclusive school
• High expectations help pupils achieve well and prepare for the next stage
• Behaviour is strong, with respectful relationships and pupils who concentrate in lessons
• Pupils benefit from a broad, logically sequenced and recently reviewed curriculum
• Reading is a key focus and pupils become fluent, confident readers
• Phonics teaching is effective, with quick support for pupils who struggle with early reading
• Pupils with SEND are identified early and supported ambitiously to access the same curriculum
• Vocabulary and language skills are developed across curriculum areas
• Teachers explain learning clearly and provide engaging experiences, including in Reception
• In well-established curriculum areas, pupils recall and discuss learning in detail
• Personal development is promoted through leadership roles, citizenship and health education
• Adults model the school’s values and pupils feel safe knowing they can talk to an adult
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective

Areas for Improvement

• In some curriculum areas, the most important knowledge and skills pupils must learn and remember are not fully identified
• Assessment is not used effectively to embed knowledge, check understanding or inform teaching
• Pupils do not always fully understand what they have learned or make links across subjects in less-developed curriculum areas
• The school should continue refining the curriculum so pupils achieve equally well across all areas

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 Balfour Infant School attended 95.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.9% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Balfour Infant School 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 Balfour Infant School had 22.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.6% 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, 13.5% of pupils at Balfour Infant School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 1.2% 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 Balfour Infant School received £6,892 and spent £6,934 for each of its 244 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £247,000 (£1,014 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 Rochester · Medway local authority: places and applications

What is Balfour Infant School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Balfour Infant School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Balfour Infant School last inspected by Ofsted?

Balfour Infant School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Balfour Infant School have?

Balfour Infant School has 244 pupils on roll.

What age range does Balfour Infant School cover?

Balfour Infant School for pupils aged 5 to 7.

Where is Balfour Infant School?

Balfour Infant School is at Pattens Lane, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2QT.