Parkland Infant School, Eastbourne

Ofsted's report card from its 12 May 2026 inspection grades Parkland Infant School on 7 areas: 3 strong standard and 4 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Early years - Strong standard. "Children engage extremely well in a rich and ambitious range of activities across all areas of learning."

Inclusion - Strong standard. "Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is excellent."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "Leaders provide strategic, coherent and ambitious leadership of personal development and wellbeing."

Achievement - Expected standard. "Pupils achieve well across the curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders provide strategic and effective oversight of attendance and behaviour, ensuring that expectations are clear and consistently reinforced."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders, trustees and governors show suitable understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of pupils' curriculum experiences."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders provide caring, strategic and purposeful leadership that places pupils' best interests at the centre of all decision making."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that teachers consistently identify and address gaps in pupils' learning to help them achieve even more highly across the whole curriculum"; "Leaders should continue their focus on raising the attendance of disadvantaged pupils".

For September 2026 entry, 52 families put Parkland Infant School as their first choice and 81 named it as one of their preferences, for 53 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state primary schools to Parkland Infant School are Parkland Junior School (under 0.1 miles, Good, 79% reading, 76% maths); Oakwood Primary Academy (0.4 miles, Good, 68% reading, 64% maths); Heron Park Primary Academy (0.6 miles, Good, 55% reading, 48% maths); and Ocklynge Junior School (1.1 miles, Requires improvement, 68% reading, 61% maths).

Parkland Infant School is one of 19 schools run by Swale Academies Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's primary schools, 64% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2024/25.

9% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 24 pupils (13.5%) received SEN support and 4 (2.2%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is autism.

Parkland Infant School had 12 teachers in 2026, one for every 15 pupils: more teachers per pupil than a typical primary school, at about one for every 20.

The nearest railway station is Hampden Park (Sussex) Rail Station, about 670 metres away (roughly a 8-minute walk).

4 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is The Broadway (adjacent), 250 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 220 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in East Sussex (65), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Parkland Infant School issued 12 suspensions, 6.7 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The secondary schools closest to Parkland Infant School are The Eastbourne Academy (0.2 miles), Ratton School (0.7 miles), The Turing School (1.1 miles) and The Cavendish School (1.3 miles).