Southbroom Infants' School Review 2026: A nursery and infant setting on an upward Ofsted trajectory

Because this is an infant school (nursery to Year 2), you should not expect the usual Key Stage 2 performance tables that drive many primary comparisons. The available performance results for this school does not include published Key Stage 2 style attainment figures, and the school is not ranked in the supplied primary outcomes table for England comparisons.

What you can use confidently instead is the most recent external evaluation of teaching and learning quality. The June 2025 Ofsted inspection judged the quality of education as Good. Personal development and leadership and management were judged Outstanding, with early years provision also Outstanding.

It is also important to interpret the “Requires Improvement” label in the public summary carefully. Under the current Ofsted framework for state schools, there is no longer an overall effectiveness grade in the way families became used to in earlier years. For Southbroom Infants' School, the June 2025 inspection explicitly sets out the five judgement areas rather than giving a single headline grade. The implication for parents is straightforward: read the component grades, and focus on whether the areas that matter most for your child, especially early years, personal development, and how the school is led, look strong. Here, those areas are the highest available judgement.

In an infants setting, quality is usually decided by sequencing and by how consistently staff build early reading, early number, and spoken language. The school publishes curriculum information, including early reading and phonics documentation. The presence of a dedicated phonics and early reading page is a useful indicator that reading is treated as a planned, structured priority rather than a broad aspiration.

The curriculum materials also point to a setting that thinks about parent partnership as part of learning, not separate from it. The website lists family learning events such as phonics family learning, maths family learning, and reading for pleasure sessions. For many children at this age, the biggest accelerant is consistent practice at home, so a school that formalises how parents can support early reading is typically trying to reduce variation and make progress more even across a cohort.

Early years provision is a particular strength in the latest inspection judgements, which matters because nursery and Reception quality often drives the whole trajectory of a child’s confidence at school. The school also describes its nursery as having a bespoke curriculum focused on building the skills children need to start their learning journey, supported by a team of early years professionals.

For an infant school, the key transition is into junior education at Year 3. Southbroom Infants' School states that it has close links with Southbroom St James Academy, described as the local junior school, and that children visit through the year for joint activities such as maths games sessions, sports day, and assemblies. It also describes a Year 2 transition project that continues into Year 3 to keep learning continuous and to build confidence.

For parents, the implication is that the school treats transition as a process rather than a single handover. That can reduce anxiety for children who find change difficult, and it tends to benefit summer born children and those who need more routine and predictability.

Southbroom Infants' School sits within Wiltshire’s coordinated primary admissions system for Reception entry, which means applications are handled through the local authority rather than directly by the school for the main intake. Wiltshire Council’s published guidance for September 2026 primary entry sets the national deadline as 15 January 2026.

Demand, based on the supplied admissions data for the primary entry route, shows 27 applications for 20 offers, which equates to about 1.35 applications per place. The school is therefore oversubscribed in that results. This is not “hundreds of applications” oversubscription, but it is still competitive enough that families should take the criteria and distance priorities seriously.

The school’s admissions page also signals that open events run at points through the year, and that future open day details will be posted there. The last published open day event page on the site sits in the autumn term, which suggests that open days typically run in September to November rather than later in the year. If you are planning for September 2026 entry and the date listed is already in the past, treat it as a pattern indicator and check for the next scheduled session on the school website.

Nursery admissions are different. The school describes nursery admissions separately, linked to its nursery provision for ages 2 to 4, and indicates that families should use the nursery admissions route for those places.

A practical tip for parents comparing options is to use FindMySchool’s Map Search to check practical travel time at drop off. For infant schools, a ten minute difference twice a day adds up quickly over the year.

In infants schools, personal development is often where you see whether the setting is doing more than delivering lessons. Here, that is a major strength in the latest inspection outcomes, judged Outstanding. For families, that tends to translate into stronger routines, clearer expectations, and more deliberate work on behaviour, resilience, and social development.

Safeguarding leadership is also easy to verify. The school identifies its head of school as the designated safeguarding lead on the staff page. That does not tell you everything about practice, but it does show a named responsibility line.

Extracurricular life in infant settings is usually about breadth and confidence rather than elite performance, and wraparound provision often matters as much as clubs. Southbroom Infants' School publishes a Rise and Shine Breakfast Club that runs Monday to Friday from 07:50 to 08:50, and it sets the price at £4 per hour.

For after school clubs, the school describes a programme run across the year by school staff and a PE coach, and it names example clubs including art, choir, dance, multi skills, cricket, football, and sewing. The important point is less the specific list and more the implication: children can try activities that build fine motor skills, confidence in performing, and coordination, all of which support classroom readiness at this age.

The school also highlights a range of themed whole school activities and events on its learning pages, including Whole School Poetry and Art Week and curriculum-linked projects, which can be useful for children who learn best through making and doing.

The published school day runs from 08:50 to 15:00, with doors opening at 08:45, and the total weekly hours are listed as 30.8. Breakfast club starts earlier, from 07:50, which will suit families needing a consistent workday handover.

For transport and day to day logistics, the school sits in Southbroom, Devizes. Families typically rely on walking, short car trips, or local bus routes. If you are weighing up multiple options, it is worth stress testing the route at the times you would actually travel, because infant drop off traffic patterns can be very different from normal commuting.

• Leadership titles can be confusing. Public records list Mrs Amy Edwards as headteacher, while the school website refers to a head of school role. If clarity matters to you, ask who will be leading day to day school life for your child, and how trust leadership supports that.

• Oversubscription is real, even at small numbers. With 27 applications for 20 offers in the supplied admissions results, some families will miss out. Have a realistic back up plan in your preference list.

• No published comparison results. As an infant setting, you should lean more heavily on inspection evidence, curriculum approach, and transition arrangements than on headline performance tables.

Southbroom Infants' School looks like a setting that has turned a corner, with a June 2025 inspection profile that is strongest where infant education matters most, early years, personal development, and leadership.

Best suited to families who value a structured early years start, clear routines, and a well-managed transition into junior education, and who can engage early with the Wiltshire admissions timeline for September 2026 entry.