Manby Lodge Infant School

About Manby Lodge Infant School

Manby Lodge Infant School sits within Surrey local authority, a county with 298 primary schools, of which 33 hold an Outstanding rating. The school itself is rated Good by Ofsted, and its nearest Outstanding neighbour is Cleves School, 1.6 kilometres away. Among Surrey’s top-performing primaries, the leading trio are South Farnham School, The Raleigh School and Cardinal Newman Catholic Primary School. Manby Lodge is a state-funded, mixed infant school for children aged 5 to 7, located in the borough of Elmbridge. It has a capacity of 270 pupils and currently enrols 269, so it is essentially full. The school is heavily oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 300 applications for 90 places, with 94 first-preference applications and 76 offers made to first-preference families. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 3.33, meaning more than three children applied for every place. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is 7.8%, below the national average, reflecting the relatively affluent local area.

Academically, Manby Lodge’s most recent Ofsted inspection took place in December 2021 and was an ungraded visit that confirmed the school remains Good. The previous graded inspection, in October 2011, rated overall effectiveness as Good, with leadership and management also Good, and early years provision Good. The 2021 inspection gave early years provision a Good rating again, and leadership and management remained Good. The school does not publish Key Stage 2 SATs results because it is an infant school, so children leave at age 7 before those assessments. However, Surrey’s local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment is 66%, which provides a benchmark for the wider area. Without its own KS2 data, parents might look to the school’s strong oversubscription and consistent Good ratings as indicators of local confidence. The school’s facilities include a library, ICT suite, art studios, music rooms, a gymnasium, a dining hall, a forest school and a chapel, which is unusual for a state infant school.

For families considering Manby Lodge, the practical picture is clear: it is a highly sought-after infant school in Elmbridge, with demand far outstripping supply. The school offers a range of clubs including coding, science club, film club, chess, choir and eco club, plus sports such as swimming, athletics, cricket and tennis. Its SEND provisions cover specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. There is no nursery provision and no sixth form, as the school only covers Reception to Year 2. Parents will need to plan for a transition to a junior school at age 7. The school’s Good rating, combined with its forest school and broad extracurricular offer, makes it a strong choice for families who value a well-resourced start to primary education, but securing a place will require a first-preference application given the oversubscription rate.

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