Applebee Wood Community Specialist School
Far Croft, Lostock Hall, Preston, PR5 5SS
This school is closed (it closed in August 2025).
It was replaced by Applebee Wood School. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 4 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr John Cockerill (Interim)
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, VI - Visual Impairment, OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability, HI - Hearing Impairment, SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, PD - Physical Disability, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- South Ribble
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 169
- Pupils on roll
- 168
- URN
- 119880
- Local authority
- Lancashire
About this school
Applebee Wood Community Specialist School was a community special school in Preston. It taught children aged 4 to 16 and had 168 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
Applebee Wood Community Specialist School has not been inspected by Ofsted yet.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 5 | 13 | 7 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | - | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | - | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | - |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | - |
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 15 | 20 | 17 |
| Attainment 8 score | 1.7 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.67 -2.44 to -0.90 | -1.61 -2.29 to -0.94 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 5.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 5.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Applebee Wood Community Specialist 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 | — | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 58.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 58.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1.7 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 1.2 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 3.6 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 155 |
| 2023/24 | 161 |
| 2024/25 | 168 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 50%
- English as an additional language
- 12.5%
- Overall absence
- 8.4%
- Persistent absence
- 18.07%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Applebee Wood School0.0 miles
Academies · Preston
-
The Ribble Autism School0.3 miles
Special schools · Preston
-
Bridgeway School1.5 miles
Special schools · Lancashire
-
Imam Muhammad Zakariya School1.7 miles
Independent schools · Preston
-
The Coppice School1.7 miles
Special schools · Preston
Other schools in Preston
- Acorns Primary School Special schools
- Applebee Wood School Academies
- Brook View School Special schools
- Cedar Lodge School Special schools
- Hillside Specialist School and College Special schools
- Kirkham Pear Tree School Special schools
- Larches High School Local authority maintained schools
- Moorbrook School Special schools
- New Focus Education Special schools
- Oakfield House School Special schools
- Pioneer TEC Special schools
- Progress School Special schools
Common questions
- What ages does Applebee Wood Community Specialist School teach?
- Applebee Wood Community Specialist School taught children aged 4 to 16. It was a special school in Preston.
- Has Applebee Wood Community Specialist School been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected Applebee Wood Community Specialist School under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How many pupils are at Applebee Wood Community Specialist School?
- Applebee Wood Community Specialist School had 168 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 16.
- How have Applebee Wood Community Specialist School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2023/24 and 0% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are Applebee Wood Community Specialist School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Applebee Wood Community Specialist 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 31 August 2025.