St Ives Infant School

St Ives Infant School has been identified as a good school, showcasing strengths in its educational quality, behavior, and leadership. The environment is nurturing, and pupils feel safe and engaged, demonstrating high levels of motivation and good conduct. The school effectively promotes personal development through a rich curriculum and encourages pupils to explore new experiences, contributing to their overall character development. Despite the overall good performance, there are some areas needing improvement, particularly in the clarity of curriculum expectations and phonics resources provided to pupils.

Strengths

• Pupils are well cared for and feel safe at school.
• Strong partnerships with parents enhance communication and support.
• The school has an ambitious and well-structured curriculum.
• Effective early reading phonics program leading to increased accuracy in reading.
• Pupils demonstrate high levels of engagement and motivation in lessons.
• Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support is effectively managed.
• Strong leadership and stable governance support school operations.

Areas for Improvement

• Some subjects lack clarity in essential knowledge pupils need to learn.
• Phonics books occasionally do not match pupils' learning stages.

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 St Ives Infant School attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 13.2% 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, 2.1% of pupils at St Ives 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 St Ives Infant School had 21.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 33.3% 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, 9.8% of pupils at St Ives Infant School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.0% 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 2024–25 St Ives Infant School received £6,718 and spent £7,559 for each of its 146 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £30,000 (£203 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of The Rainbow Multi Academy Trust, income was £7,273 and spending £7,687 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Cornwall · Cornwall local authority: places and applications

St Ives Infant School is part of The Rainbow Multi Academy Trust, which runs 13 schools. The nearest others:

• Penponds School Camborne
• St Meriadoc CofE Junior Academy Camborne
• St Meriadoc CofE Infant Academy Camborne
• Trevithick Learning Academy Camborne
• Troon Community Primary School Camborne
• St Michael's Church of England Primary School Helston
• Ladock C of E School Truro
• Veryan CofE School Truro
• Grampound Road Village CofE School Truro
• Grampound-With-Creed CofE Primary School Truro

What is St Ives Infant School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Ives Infant School is Good, from an inspection in March 2024.

When was St Ives Infant School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Ives Infant School was last inspected in March 2024.

How many pupils does St Ives Infant School have?

St Ives Infant School has 132 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Ives Infant School cover?

St Ives Infant School for pupils aged 3 to 7.

Where is St Ives Infant School?

St Ives Infant School is at Trenwith Burrows, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1DH.