Willow Lane Community Primary School

Willow Lane Community Primary School is a welcoming, calm school where pupils enjoy attending and typically behave well. Inspectors found strong provision in behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years, with effective safeguarding and successful work to improve attendance. The school is ambitious and has taken positive steps to redesign the curriculum and give children a good start in Reception. The main area for improvement is the quality of education. Pupils' learning does not build consistently across key stage 1 and key stage 2, and some have significant gaps in knowledge that have not been addressed. Writing is a particular weakness: grammar, punctuation and spelling are not taught or corrected sharply enough, which affects pupils' written work and learning in other subjects. Assessment checks are not used consistently to identify gaps or match activities to pupils' next steps. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic. It has had significant leadership and staffing changes in recent years and has been part of the Willow Tree Federation since January 2023. The headteacher leads both schools in the federation, and the current headteacher and deputy headteacher joined after the previous inspection.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy school and have warm relationships with staff and each other.
• Pupils typically behave well and are respectful.
• Skilled staff support pupils who struggle to manage their emotions.
• The school provides a calm and happy environment where everyone is welcome.
• The school is ambitious for pupils' academic and personal achievement.
• Reading is prioritised from the start of Reception.
• Phonics is delivered consistently well, with reading books matched to pupils' sounds.
• Early years provision develops children's language and communication skills well.
• Pupils with SEND are identified effectively and supported through appropriate strategies and resources.
• The school has high expectations of behaviour, which staff model consistently.
• Actions to reduce persistent absence have been successful.
• Pupils benefit from a broad range of clubs, trips, sports and community activities.
• Pupils learn how to keep mentally and physically healthy and are well prepared for life beyond school.
• Governors provide effective support and challenge and hold the school to account.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement.
• Pupils' depth and breadth of knowledge across the curriculum is variable.
• Some pupils have significant gaps in their knowledge that have not been addressed.
• Teaching of grammar, punctuation and spelling is not strong enough, and errors are not addressed effectively.
• Pupils do not achieve as well as they could in writing, which affects other subjects.
• Assessment checks are not used consistently to inform teaching.
• Learning activities are not consistently matched to pupils' next steps.
• Gaps in pupils' understanding are not consistently identified or closed.
• Inconsistencies in checking learning mean phonics gaps are not addressed as rapidly as they could be.
• Learning does not build securely over time across key stage 1 and key stage 2.

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 Willow Lane Community Primary School attended 94.3% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.8% 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, 2.4% of pupils at Willow Lane Community Primary 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 Willow Lane Community Primary School had 23.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.4% 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, 20.6% of pupils at Willow Lane Community Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.5% 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 2025–26 Willow Lane Community Primary School received £8,326 and spent £8,247 for each of its 199 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £98,000 (£491 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).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Lancaster · Lancashire local authority: places and applications

What is Willow Lane Community Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Willow Lane Community Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in May 2025.

When was Willow Lane Community Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Willow Lane Community Primary School was last inspected in May 2025.

How many pupils does Willow Lane Community Primary School have?

Willow Lane Community Primary School has 199 pupils on roll.

What age range does Willow Lane Community Primary School cover?

Willow Lane Community Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Willow Lane Community Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 46% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Willow Lane Community Primary School?

Willow Lane Community Primary School is at Willow Lane, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 5PR.