Lancaster Road Primary School

Lancaster Road Primary School is a larger-than-average primary school with a high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Inspectors found that the school fulfils expected standards in its early years provision, inclusion, and personal development and wellbeing, but several key areas require attention, notably achievement, attendance, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils feel safe and well supported. The school's strengths include a well-structured early years curriculum, strong phonics and reading provision, and effective support for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Pupils benefit from a broad personal development programme, extensive extra-curricular opportunities, and a calm, purposeful environment where they feel included and respected. Behaviour is generally good, and leaders have reduced suspensions through consistent application of the behaviour policy. However, attainment at the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics remains below national averages, and progress has been slow. Attendance is a persistent concern, with absence and persistent absence rates well above national figures, meaning too many pupils miss important learning. Teaching quality varies between classes, and basic errors in writing are not consistently addressed. Leaders' checks on curriculum implementation and teaching are not rigorous enough, and improvements in attendance and attainment have been modest. The school has clear next steps to address these issues, including more consistent correction of writing errors and better matching of tasks to pupils' needs.

Strengths

• Early years curriculum is clear and progressive, building well on children's prior knowledge.
• Staff have highly positive interactions with children and develop language and vocabulary effectively.
• Phonics provision is strong, helping children sound out new words and develop a love of reading.
• Effective support is in place for children with additional needs, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Staff engage well with parents and ensure detailed transition information is shared with Year 1 teachers.
• Leaders have implemented measures to identify and meet pupils' additional needs, with relevant SEND training starting to have a positive effect.
• The school uses additional funding to help disadvantaged pupils overcome barriers to learning.
• Personal development programme is clear and includes extensive wider opportunities from early years to Year 6.
• Pupils learn to respect others, cooperate, listen to viewpoints and resolve conflicts.
• Relationships and health education enables pupils to understand safe and healthy relationships and manage risk.
• Pupils understand fundamental British values and democracy through the school council.
• A wide range of extra-curricular opportunities in sport and the arts raises awareness of future careers.
• Leaders monitor participation and nurture pupils' talents by signposting to local sports clubs.
• Pupils feel safe and included, with positive attitudes and good relationships with caring staff.
• Staff apply the behaviour policy consistently, and suspensions have reduced with specific support in place.
• The school environment is generally calm and purposeful, and pupils show resilience and persistence.
• The curriculum is broad and builds systematically on prior learning, with emphasis on basic mathematics, language and phonics.
• Targeted support helps disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, and the 'Reading Rainbows' scheme promotes a love of reading.
• Governors fulfil statutory duties, question leaders well, and ensure pupils are at the heart of decisions.
• Staff feel supported by leaders, who consider wellbeing and workload.
• Safeguarding standards are met.

Areas for Improvement

• Attainment at the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics remains below the national average.
• Outcomes have improved only slowly, partly due to inconsistencies in addressing basic errors in handwriting, grammar and punctuation.
• Low attendance of some pupils means they have gaps in learning that have not been addressed.
• Some pupils are not as well prepared for the next steps in their education as they could be.
• Tasks are not consistently matched to pupils' next steps, limiting progress over time.
• Attendance improvement has been too slow, with absence remaining higher than national and too many pupils missing education.
• Persistent absence is significantly above the national average.
• Checks on teaching lack sufficient rigour, so practice varies between classes and year groups.
• Basic errors in writing are not routinely identified or addressed across different subjects.
• Leaders' checks on some aspects of practice lack rigour, and inconsistencies in curriculum delivery have not been addressed swiftly.
• Leaders have had only limited impact on improving attendance and attainment, with gains modest.
• Pupils' achievement is not improving quickly enough.
• The school has a high number of suspensions in previous years, though reducing.
• Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap remains large, particularly in reading and mathematics.
• Leaders should ensure teachers have a more consistent approach to correcting basic errors in pupils' grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting.
• Leaders should continue to develop teachers' expertise in making curriculum adaptations.
• Leaders should continue to work closely with parents to improve attendance and reduce learning gaps.
• Leaders should check on the consistency of curriculum implementation more rigorously and systematically.

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 Lancaster Road Primary School attended 93.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 20.7% 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, 4.4% of pupils at Lancaster Road Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). 4 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 Lancaster Road Primary School had 18.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.1% 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, 30.5% of pupils at Lancaster Road Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.3% 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 Lancaster Road Primary School received £8,218 and spent £8,445 for each of its 478 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £56,000 (£117 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).

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

What is Lancaster Road Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lancaster Road Primary School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Lancaster Road Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Lancaster Road Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Lancaster Road Primary School have?

Lancaster Road Primary School has 478 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lancaster Road Primary School cover?

Lancaster Road Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Lancaster Road Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 53% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lancaster Road Primary School?

Lancaster Road Primary School is at Lancaster Road, Morecambe, Lancashire, LA4 5TH.