Bowerham Primary & Nursery School
Bowerham Road, Lancaster, LA1 4BS
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 2 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Jo Banks
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 532
- Pupils on roll
- 498
- URN
- 119129
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0152463999
About this school
Bowerham Primary & Nursery School is a community primary school in Lancaster. It teaches children aged 2 to 11 and has 498 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 60 | 60 | 58 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 68% | 53% | 60% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 7% | 10% | 12% |
| Expected standard in reading | 83% | 72% | 83% |
| Expected standard in maths | 80% | 58% | 67% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 73% | 78% | 79% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 104.0 | 107.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 105.0 | 103.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -3.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.10 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.80 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Bowerham Primary & Nursery School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 68% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 53% | 58.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 60% | 58.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 3.6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 503 |
| 2023/24 | 487 |
| 2024/25 | 478 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bowerham Primary & Nursery School compares
Bowerham Primary & Nursery School ranked 248th of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 40% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 93% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 60% | 3.6% | 17.9% | 498 | — |
| The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Lancaster | 80% | 5.6% | 28.7% | 195 | 0.4 miles |
| St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School, Lancaster | 79% | 3.7% | 11.2% | 207 | 0.6 miles |
| Scotforth St Paul's Church of England Primary and Nursery School | 63% | 3.6% | 10.6% | 220 | 0.6 miles |
| Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School | 65% | 5.9% | 16.8% | 372 | 0.6 miles |
| Moorside Primary School | 70% | 3.4% | 10.1% | 570 | 0.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report20 January 2026
- 21 September 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 17.94%
- English as an additional language
- 16.5%
- Overall absence
- 3.59%
- Persistent absence
- 5.98%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Lancaster0.4 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School, Lancaster0.6 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
Scotforth St Paul's Church of England Primary and Nursery School0.6 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
Moorside Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Lancaster
Other schools in Lancaster
Bowerham Primary & Nursery School ranks 17th of the 24 ranked primary schools in Lancaster.
- Austwick Church of England VA Primary School Primary
- Bentham Community Primary School Primary
- Castle View Primary Academy Primary
- Caton Primary School Primary
- Caton St Paul's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Cawthorne's Endowed School Primary
- Dolphinholme Church of England Primary School Primary
- Ellel St John the Evangelist Church of England Primary School Primary
- Hornby St Margaret's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Lancaster Christ Church Church of England Primary School Primary
- Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School Primary
- Lancaster Ryelands Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Bowerham Primary & Nursery School teach?
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School teaches children aged 2 to 11. It is a primary school in Lancaster.
- Who is the headteacher of Bowerham Primary & Nursery School?
- The headteacher of Bowerham Primary & Nursery School is Mrs Jo Banks, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bowerham Primary & Nursery School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bowerham Primary & Nursery School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Bowerham Primary & Nursery School?
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School has 498 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 2 to 11.
- Is Bowerham Primary & Nursery School full?
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School has capacity for 532 pupils and 498 on roll (94%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Bowerham Primary & Nursery School a faith school?
- No. Bowerham Primary & Nursery School has no designated religious character.
- Does Bowerham Primary & Nursery School have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Bowerham Primary & Nursery School as having nursery classes.
- How have Bowerham Primary & Nursery School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 68% in 2022/23 and 60% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bowerham Primary & Nursery School rank locally?
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School ranked 248th of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 40% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 93% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bowerham Primary & Nursery School's absence rate?
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery School's overall absence rate is 3.6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bowerham Primary & Nursery School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bowerham Primary & Nursery School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.