Lodge Farm Primary School

Lodge Farm Primary School is a caring, orderly school where pupils behave well, attend regularly and feel supported by trusted adults. Behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision are good; pupils benefit from a broad personal development programme, effective phonics and reading support, and calm, purposeful classrooms. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. The main concern is the quality of education, which requires improvement, as does leadership and management. Expectations and teaching quality are not consistent: in some subjects staff lack secure subject knowledge, assessment is not used well to adapt teaching or close gaps, and approaches vary too much. This means some pupils, especially those with SEND, do not achieve as well as they could across the curriculum. The school has had significant leadership turbulence, with no substantive headteacher since January 2024 and a new headteacher starting just before the inspection. Leadership is now stable and improvement plans are in place, but they are at an early stage. This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took that context into account.

Strengths

• Pupils behave consistently well and create a respectful, purposeful learning environment.
• Pupils attend well and enjoy school.
• Staff build strong relationships and provide reassurance and support to pupils.
• Pupils learn effective strategies to support their emotional and mental well-being.
• The school provides a well-rounded personal development programme with enrichment clubs, charity projects and cultural events.
• Pupils develop compassion, mutual respect and a valuing of diversity.
• Early years staff create stimulating environments that encourage imaginative play and social interaction.
• Children in early years develop broad vocabulary and firm foundations in mathematics.
• The structured phonics programme is taught effectively by skilled staff.
• Pupils read books matched to their phonics knowledge and learn to read fluently and confidently.
• Older pupils who are not yet fluent readers receive tailored one-to-one support.
• The curriculum is broad and engaging and outlines the knowledge and skills pupils need over time.
• Governors have supported the school through leadership changes and supported staff workload and well-being.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement because learning varies too much across the school.
• Staff expectations for what pupils should achieve are not consistent across the school.
• In some subjects, teachers do not have secure subject knowledge or a full understanding of the curriculum content.
• Some staff do not explain key concepts well, limiting pupils' secure understanding.
• In many subjects, assessment is not used well to adapt teaching or identify and fill gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Teaching methods are not used consistently, so pupils receive differing levels of guidance and support.
• Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they could across the full range of subjects.
• SEND needs have not always been identified in a timely way.
• Leadership and management require improvement, with improvement plans still in the early stages of implementation.

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 Lodge Farm Primary School attended 95.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 10.1% 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, 2.7% of pupils at Lodge Farm Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). One pupil was 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 Lodge Farm Primary School had 19.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 37.7% 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, 15.8% of pupils at Lodge Farm Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.9% 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 Lodge Farm Primary School received £6,616 and spent £6,847 for each of its 380 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £307,000 (£810 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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• Secondary Schools

All schools in Stevenage · Hertfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Lodge Farm Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lodge Farm Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Lodge Farm Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Lodge Farm Primary School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Lodge Farm Primary School have?

Lodge Farm Primary School has 386 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lodge Farm Primary School cover?

Lodge Farm Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Lodge Farm Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 37% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lodge Farm Primary School?

Lodge Farm Primary School is at Mobbsbury Way, Chells, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG2 0HP.