South Lake Primary School

South Lake Primary School is a welcoming, friendly school where pupils feel safe, behave well and achieve strongly. Inspectors found the quality of education and leadership to be strong, with particularly exceptional early years provision and exemplary personal development. Pupils benefit from warm relationships, a broad and ambitious curriculum, expert phonics teaching, and strong support for pupils with SEND. The school’s wider opportunities, including forest activities, careers work and pupil responsibilities, help develop character and confidence. The main area for improvement is that in some subjects teaching does not consistently revisit prior learning or make links to earlier content. This means pupils sometimes forget important knowledge and are less well prepared to build on it. Safeguarding is effective, staff feel well supported, and trust and governance arrangements are ambitious for all pupils. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the pandemic and its first section 5 inspection.

Strengths

• Warm, welcoming and inclusive school culture
• Pupils feel happy, safe and have a strong sense of belonging
• Calm lessons and good behaviour with high expectations
• Ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum across subjects
• Strong teacher subject knowledge and skilful questioning
• Exceptional early years provision with nurturing environment
• Expertly taught phonics and effective reading catch-up support
• Ambitious and effective support for pupils with SEND
• Good attendance and punctuality
• Exemplary wider development and character opportunities
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Staff feel supported and workload is considered
• Trust and governance are ambitious for all pupils

Areas for Improvement

• In some subjects, teaching does not routinely revisit prior learning or make links to earlier content, so pupils forget knowledge and new learning is affected

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 South Lake Primary School attended 95.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 8.4% 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, 0.9% of pupils at South Lake 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 South Lake Primary School had 23.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% 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, 14.4% of pupils at South Lake Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.5% 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 2024–25 South Lake Primary School received £6,244 and spent £6,439 for each of its 444 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £455,000 (£1,025 per pupil).

Across all 8 schools of Orchard Learning Alliance, income was £5,741 and spending £6,102 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 Reading · Wokingham local authority: places and applications

South Lake Primary School is part of Orchard Learning Alliance, which runs 10 schools. The nearest others:

• Highwood Primary School Reading
• Hawkedon Primary School Reading
• Willow Bank Infant School Reading
• Willow Bank Junior School Reading
• Waingels Reading
• Radstock Primary School Reading
• Hillside Primary School Reading
• Lambs Lane Primary School Reading
• Churchend Primary Academy Reading

What is South Lake Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for South Lake Primary School is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was South Lake Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

South Lake Primary School was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does South Lake Primary School have?

South Lake Primary School has 443 pupils on roll.

What age range does South Lake Primary School cover?

South Lake Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are South Lake Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 77% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is South Lake Primary School?

South Lake Primary School is at Campbell Road, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, RG5 3NA.