Ray Lodge Primary School

Ray Lodge Primary School is performing well overall. It is a large primary school, part of Strive4 Academy Trust, serving a community with above-average deprivation and a higher-than-average proportion of pupils receiving SEND support. Safeguarding standards are met. Inspectors found pupils are happy, confident and well supported, with calm and respectful behaviour, very high attendance, and strong personal development. The school's 'Ray Lodge Pledge' and pastoral care are notable strengths, and pupils with SEND are included well and make progress. Most areas are working at the expected standard. Pupils achieve well across the curriculum, especially in reading and mathematics, and many reach above national expectations by the end of Year 6. Disadvantaged pupils do well in writing but still have a gap in some combined and mathematics outcomes, which leaders are beginning to address. The curriculum is broad and sequenced, early years is calm and well organised, and leadership and the trust partnership are effective. Staff feel valued and supported. Leaders' next steps focus on strengthening high-quality talk and vocabulary teaching, particularly in early years, making adaptive teaching more consistent, and improving behaviour oversight so leaders can analyse trends and evaluate impact more precisely. These are refinements rather than urgent concerns, and the school is well placed to continue improving.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, confident and embody the school values of aspiration, resilience and emotional awareness.
• The 'Ray Lodge Pledge' provides a well-sequenced enrichment programme that builds aspiration and broadens pupils' horizons.
• Personal development and pastoral care are highly effective, including for disadvantaged pupils and those known to children's social care.
• Pupils achieve well across the curriculum, with many reaching above national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2.
• Disadvantaged pupils perform strongly in writing, well above national averages over the latest three years.
• Attendance is very high, including for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Behaviour is calm and respectful, and bullying is very rare and dealt with effectively.
• Pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and supported well to access the full curriculum alongside their peers.
• The curriculum is broad, balanced, logically sequenced and engages pupils' interests.
• Early years provision is calm, caring and well organised, and children develop early reading skills effectively.
• Leadership and governance are effective, with a strong and mutually beneficial partnership with the trust.
• Staff feel valued and supported, with leaders attentive to wellbeing and manageable workload.

Areas for Improvement

• Some variation remains in how well teachers check pupils' understanding and introduce new vocabulary.
• Teaching in the early years does not support some children to develop vocabulary as fully as leaders intend.
• Behaviour recording systems do not consistently enable detailed analysis of the impact of actions or less visible patterns over time.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are closer to national averages in reading and mathematics, with a remaining gap compared with non-disadvantaged pupils.
• Staff need to enhance opportunities for high-quality talk and interaction with pupils, including in early years, to improve language and vocabulary.
• Staff need to strengthen consistency in adaptive teaching practices so pupils build securely and in depth on prior knowledge.
• Leaders need to further develop behaviour oversight so they can evaluate the impact of their actions more precisely.

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 Ray Lodge Primary School attended 96.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 7.4% 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, 0.0% of pupils at Ray Lodge 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 Ray Lodge Primary School had 22.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 25.0% 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, 18.5% of pupils at Ray Lodge Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 5.2% 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 2024–25 Ray Lodge Primary School received £6,334 and spent £6,919 for each of its 668 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,700,000 (£2,545 per pupil).

Across all 2 schools of Strive4 Academy Trust, income was £6,765 and spending £7,455 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Redbridge · Redbridge local authority: places and applications

Ray Lodge Primary School is part of Strive4 Academy Trust, which runs 2 schools. The nearest others:

• Farnham Green Primary School Ilford

What is Ray Lodge Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Ray Lodge Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Ray Lodge Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Ray Lodge Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Ray Lodge Primary School have?

Ray Lodge Primary School has 674 pupils on roll.

What age range does Ray Lodge Primary School cover?

Ray Lodge Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

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

In 2025, 73% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Ray Lodge Primary School?

Ray Lodge Primary School is at Snakes Lane East, Woodford Green, Essex, IG8 7JQ.