Vickerstown School

Vickerstown School requires significant improvement, although safeguarding standards are met. Pupils enjoy coming to school, behave well and most attend regularly. Personal development and wellbeing are relative strengths: the school is calm and orderly, relationships are warm and respectful, and pupils benefit from a diverse personal development programme, leadership roles, clubs, visits and strong pastoral support. However, achievement is the weakest area and requires urgent improvement. Too few pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils, reach expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Teaching does not consistently build basic knowledge; spelling, handwriting and grammar errors persist, phonics and mathematics foundations are weak, and teachers do not adapt well enough for disadvantaged pupils or many pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Early years, inclusion, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance all need attention. The school has a specially resourced SEND provision for 8 pupils aged 4 to 11. Pupils with complex needs in that provision benefit from a tailored curriculum, but many SEND pupils without education, health and care plans do not access the curriculum successfully. The trust and previous governance were too slow to address issues, leading to a decline since the last inspection. New leaders and trustees are taking decisive action, but improvements are at an early stage. The pupil premium strategy also lacks clarity.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy coming to school and arrive ready to learn.
• Most pupils attend regularly and leaders promote attendance well.
• The school is calm and orderly with warm, respectful staff-pupil relationships.
• Pupils feel safe and valued; bullying and discriminatory behaviour are rare.
• Pupils have positive attitudes to learning, including pupils with SEND.
• Suspensions for disadvantaged pupils are reducing.
• The personal development programme celebrates diversity and helps pupils respect others.
• Pupils take meaningful leadership roles and learn about democracy.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of clubs, visits, residentials and community projects.
• Disadvantaged pupils are supported to access extra-curricular opportunities.
• Leaders have designed an ambitious, broad and balanced curriculum.
• Reading is prioritised from the start through an early reading curriculum.
• Teachers have secure subject knowledge.
• Pupils in the specially resourced SEND provision benefit from a well-matched, tailored curriculum and make suitable progress.
• Early years staff interact warmly and purposefully; children settle well and are becoming confident communicators.
• Leaders are mindful of staff wellbeing and workload, and staff value the support they receive.
• Training has had a positive impact in reading and behaviour management.
• Governance fulfils statutory duties, including safeguarding, and is beginning to support and challenge leaders more effectively.

Areas for Improvement

• Overall, the school requires significant improvement.
• Achievement requires urgent improvement; too few pupils reach expected standards by Year 6.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve significantly below their peers and gaps are not closing quickly.
• Pupils do not secure important basic knowledge across year groups, especially in writing.
• Errors in spelling, handwriting and grammar persist across year groups.
• Many pupils have not secured strong foundations in reading, including phonics.
• Pupils lack a secure understanding of number, including multiplication tables.
• Teaching does not consistently help pupils learn or address errors effectively.
• Teachers do not adapt teaching well enough for disadvantaged pupils and many pupils with SEND.
• Some pupils with SEND cannot access the curriculum successfully.
• The pupil premium strategy lacks clarity about barriers to learning and wellbeing.
• The early years curriculum lacks precision, and staff do not routinely identify what children need to learn next.
• Some children, particularly disadvantaged children, have gaps in knowledge and many do not master letter formation.
• Targets and adaptations for pupils with SEND without EHC plans are inconsistent.
• Leadership and governance need attention; governance oversaw a decline and was too slow to address previous inspection issues.
• Recent improvements are at an early stage and have not yet brought needed changes to teaching and learning.
• Too few pupils are prepared for their next stage of education.
• Pupils do not consistently benefit from intended improvements across subjects, particularly writing.

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 Vickerstown School attended 93.2% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.5% 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, 2.3% of pupils at Vickerstown 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 Vickerstown School had 33.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 56.2% 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, 19.9% of pupils at Vickerstown School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 12.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 4 pupils.

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 Vickerstown School received £8,793 and spent £10,084 for each of its 174 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £275,000 (-£1,583 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust, income was £8,046 and spending £8,375 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 Barrow-In-Furness · Westmorland and Furness local authority: places and applications

Vickerstown School is part of South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• South Walney Junior School Barrow-In-Furness
• Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School Barrow-In-Furness
• Cambridge Primary School Barrow-In-Furness
• Newbarns Primary and Nursery School Barrow-In-Furness
• Chetwynde School Barrow-In-Furness

What is Vickerstown School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Vickerstown School is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Vickerstown School last inspected by Ofsted?

Vickerstown School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Vickerstown School have?

Vickerstown School has 156 pupils on roll.

What age range does Vickerstown School cover?

Vickerstown School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Vickerstown School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 15% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Vickerstown School?

Vickerstown School is at Mill Lane, Walney, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA14 3XY.