Willow Lane Community Primary School
Willow Lane, Lancaster, LA1 5PR
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Ms Lucy Naylor
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Federation
- The Willow Tree Federation
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 199
- URN
- 119134
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0152465880
About this school
Willow Lane Community Primary School is a community primary school in Lancaster. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 199 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Willow Lane Community Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 29 | 23 | 28 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 52% | 43% | 46% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 17% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 69% | 52% | 79% |
| Expected standard in maths | 72% | 61% | 54% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 76% | 65% | 64% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 103.0 | 101.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 101.0 | 101.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.10 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.40 | - | - |
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 Willow Lane Community Primary 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 | 52% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 43% | 58.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 46% | 58.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 204 |
| 2023/24 | 191 |
| 2024/25 | 205 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Willow Lane Community Primary School compares
Willow Lane Community Primary School ranked 362nd of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 17% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46% | 5.7% | 41% | 199 | — |
| Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School | 65% | 5.9% | 16.8% | 372 | 0.5 miles |
| Lancaster Ryelands Primary School | 63% | 7.3% | 62.2% | 362 | 0.8 miles |
| The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Lancaster | 80% | 5.6% | 28.7% | 195 | 0.9 miles |
| Morecambe and Heysham Grosvenor Park Primary School | 70% | 4.5% | 19.1% | 320 | 1.0 miles |
| St Josephs Catholic Primary School, Lancaster | 33% | 8.6% | 51.3% | 144 | 1.0 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 40.98%
- English as an additional language
- 10.7%
- Overall absence
- 5.73%
- Persistent absence
- 14.75%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
Lancaster Ryelands Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Lancaster0.9 miles
Primary · Lancaster
-
Morecambe and Heysham Grosvenor Park Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Morecambe
-
St Josephs Catholic Primary School, Lancaster1.0 miles
Primary · Lancaster
Other schools in Lancaster
Willow Lane Community Primary School ranks 21st of the 24 ranked primary schools in Lancaster.
- Austwick Church of England VA Primary School Primary
- Bentham Community Primary School Primary
- Bowerham Primary & Nursery 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
Common questions
- What ages does Willow Lane Community Primary School teach?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Lancaster.
- Who is the headteacher of Willow Lane Community Primary School?
- The headteacher of Willow Lane Community Primary School is Ms Lucy Naylor, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Willow Lane Community Primary School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Willow Lane Community Primary 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 many pupils are at Willow Lane Community Primary School?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School has 199 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Willow Lane Community Primary School full?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 199 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Willow Lane Community Primary School a faith school?
- No. Willow Lane Community Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Is Willow Lane Community Primary School a selective school?
- No. Willow Lane Community Primary School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Willow Lane Community Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Willow Lane Community Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Is Willow Lane Community Primary School part of an academy trust?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School is part of the The Willow Tree Federation federation. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Willow Lane Community Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 52% in 2022/23 and 46% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Willow Lane Community Primary School compare with other schools in Lancashire?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School ranked 362nd of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 17% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Willow Lane Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Willow Lane Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.7% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Willow Lane Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Willow Lane Community Primary 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.