Riders Infant School, Havant

Ofsted's report card from its 3 March 2026 inspection grades Riders Infant School on 7 areas: 1 expected standard and 6 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Early years - Expected standard. "Children in the early years benefit from a warm, inclusive environment."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils have not achieved well enough over time, including in published outcomes."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Too many pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "The quality of teaching is inconsistent across the school."

Inclusion - Needs attention. "Support for pupils who need additional help with their learning is inconsistent."

Leadership and governance - Needs attention. "Following a period of instability and uncertainty, leadership has now stabilised and strengthened."

Personal development and wellbeing - Needs attention. "Leaders have recently strengthened the school's personal development offer."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Governors should further develop their expertise, including their oversight of the pupil premium strategy, to help them hold school leaders to account for the impact of their work, particularly with regard to improving pupils' outcomes"; "Leaders should ensure that the support provided to pupils to reduce their barriers to learning is monitored and implemented consistently well by well-trained staff"; "Leaders should ensure that effective teaching is embedded across the school so that pupils progress well through the curriculum and are further supported to have positive attitudes to learning"; "Leaders should ensure that staff are supported to develop the expertise to address gaps in pupils' knowledge effectively, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, so that pupils secure the foundational knowledge and understanding within both the academic and the personal development programme"; "Leaders should continue to embed their attendance strategy to improve how often pupils attend school. This includes ensuring that pupils' persistent absence rates decrease over time"; "Leaders should ensure that staff are supported to have the expertise to engage in consistently high-quality interactions with children in the early years to further develop secure children's communication and language skills prior to joining key stage 1".

The school runs a breakfast club and after-school care.

For September 2026 entry, 20 families put Riders Infant School as their first choice and 32 named it as one of their preferences, for 22 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 Riders Infant School are Riders Junior School (under 0.1 miles, Requires improvement, 45% reading, 48% maths); Warren Park Primary School (0.5 miles, Outstanding, 82% reading, 78% maths); Front Lawn Primary Academy (0.6 miles, Outstanding, 89% reading, 86% maths); and Barncroft Primary School (0.6 miles, Good, 72% reading, 68% maths).

60.3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 6.9% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (88%) and other ethnic groups (5%).

The nearest railway station is Bedhampton Rail Station, about 1.1 miles away in a straight line.

14 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Riders Lane (adjacent), 190 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Riders Infant School stands in is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 323 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and public order offences. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Hampshire (72), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Riders Infant School issued 8 suspensions, 10.7 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.