Ofsted: Outstanding trending_up High Demand emoji_events #10 in Lincolnshire public Top 29% UK

Church Lane Primary School & Nursery

verifiedData: DfE 2024/25–2025/26 · Ofsted

personMr Callum Clay

location_onSleaford, NG34 7DF

language Visit Website phone 1529302696

verified

Ofsted

Outstanding

Inspected 2025

groups

Students

203

school

Expected Standard

72%

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Demand Ratio

1.7x

summarize

Church Lane Primary School & Nursery is a Community school primary school in Sleaford, serving ages 3-11. Rated Outstanding by Ofsted — the highest possible grade. Highly competitive: 1.7× more applications than places — plan well ahead. Ranks in the top 29% of primary schools nationally.

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School Summary

Church Lane Primary School & Nursery is a community school in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, admitting pupils aged 3-11. The school has approximately 221 pupils on roll, of whom 39% are eligible for free school meals.

In 2025, 72% of pupils met the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths combined, with 13% achieving the higher standard. The school ranks #10 of 245 primaries in Lincolnshire and #1,604 of 14,143 nationally.

Ofsted last inspected the school in 2025. The school's current overall rating is Outstanding. Inspectors assessed quality of education as Outstanding, behaviour and attitudes Outstanding, personal development Outstanding, and leadership and management Outstanding.

The school is oversubscribed — in the most recent cycle, there were 1.7× as many applications as places, making a successful application competitive.

The pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratio is 19.6:1. There are no current teaching vacancies.

In the 2024/25 academic year, there were no permanent exclusions. The average suspension rate was 0.0 per 1,000 pupils per term.

verified Source: DfE 2024/25–2025/26 · Ofsted

Academic Performance

verified Data: UK Gov 2024/25

school

Primary Performance Trends (KS2)

2025

R/W/M Expected Standard

72%

LA 57%

Reading72% LA 70%

Writing84% LA 69%

Maths78% LA 68%

Read SS

104

Maths SS

107

GPS SS

105

Progress (0 = national avg)

Read

Write

Maths

2024

R/W/M Expected Standard

77%

LA 55%England 61%

Reading80% LA 69% · Eng 74%

Writing77% LA 67% · Eng 72%

Maths80% LA 67% · Eng 73%

Read SS

105

Maths SS

105

GPS SS

105

Progress (0 = national avg)

Read

Write

Maths

2023

R/W/M Expected Standard

63%

LA 54%England 60%

Reading73% LA 69% · Eng 73%

Writing80% LA 67% · Eng 71%

Maths80% LA 67% · Eng 73%

Read SS

105

Maths SS

105

GPS SS

103

Progress (0 = national avg)

-1.1

Read

LA -0.3

-3.3 to 1.2

1.1

Write

LA -0.3

-1.0 to 3.3

0.4

Maths

LA -0.7

-1.7 to 2.5

2019

R/W/M Expected Standard

61%

LA 59%England 65%

Reading68% LA 69% · Eng 73%

Writing71% LA 75% · Eng 78%

Maths82% LA 73% · Eng 79%

Read SS

102

Maths SS

105

GPS SS

104

Progress (0 = national avg)

-2.7

Read

LA -0.7

-5.0 to -0.3

-0.5

Write

LA -0.4

-2.7 to 1.6

0.8

Maths

LA -1.0

-1.3 to 2.8

2018

R/W/M Expected Standard

78%

LA 58%

Reading81% LA 71%

Writing89% LA 74%

Maths89% LA 70%

Read SS

105

Maths SS

106

GPS SS

108

Progress (0 = national avg)

0.6

Read

LA -0.8

-1.7 to 2.9

1.8

Write

LA -0.5

-0.4 to 4

2.5

Maths

LA -1.2

0.5 to 4.5

Ofsted History

Publication Timeline

Report Archive

25 February 2025

Inspection Report

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07 October 2014

Inspection Report

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21 October 2010

Inspection Report

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30 June 2008

Inspection Report

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19 May 2003

Inspection Report

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Inspection Report

Inspection History

3 Evaluations

2025-02-25

S5 Inspection EIF

Not Judged

info

Why no overall grade?

From autumn 2024, Ofsted stopped issuing a single headline grade (Outstanding / Good / RI / Inadequate). Instead, each inspection area is graded individually. This follows a major review after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023. The overall effectiveness field is left as "Not judged" in the published data.

Education

Outstanding

Behaviour

Outstanding

Development

Outstanding

Leadership

Outstanding

2014-10-07

S5 Inspection EIF

Outstanding

Education

No Judgement

Behaviour

No Judgement

Development

No Judgement

Leadership

Outstanding

2010-10-21

None EIF

Good

Education

No Judgement

Behaviour

No Judgement

Development

No Judgement

Leadership

Good

Wellbeing, SEN & Pastoral Care

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Behaviour & Discipline (Suspensions & Exclusions)

Official Department for Education (DfE) data. Suspensions measure temporary removals due to behavior, while exclusions represent permanent removals.

Suspension Rate

0.0%per term

sentiment_satisfied Below Average (Good)

National average: 0.8% for this term (primary).

Pupils Suspended 1+ Times

0.0%(0 pupils)

Spring term 2025

Represents the proportion of unique students suspended at least once in this term.

Permanent Exclusions

0pupils

verified Excellent (Zero)

National average: 1.225% of pupils excluded per term.

Pastoral Context: In the Spring term of 2025, this school served a headcount of 221 pupils. During this period, there were 0 temporary suspensions. The school's suspension rate was 0.0%, which is below the termly national average of 0.8%.

View Historical Disciplinary Records (2017–2025)keyboard_arrow_down

Year / Term	Headcount	Suspensions	Susp. Rate	Nat. Avg	Perm. Excl.
2024/25 (Spring term)	221	0	0.0%	0.8%	0
2024/25 (Autumn term)	219	0	0.0%	0.9%	0
2023/24 (Summer term)	214	0	0.0%	0.8%	0
2023/24 (Spring term)	213	0	0.0%	0.7%	0
2023/24 (Autumn term)	206	4	1.9%	0.8%	0
2022/23 (Summer term)	209	2	1.0%	0.7%	0
2022/23 (Spring term)	203	0	0.0%	0.6%	0
2022/23 (Autumn term)	199	0	0.0%	0.6%	0
2021/22 (Summer term)	207	1	0.5%	0.5%	0
2021/22 (Spring term)	206	0	0.0%	0.5%	0
2021/22 (Autumn term)	205	0	0.0%	0.5%	0
2020/21 (Summer term)	204	3	1.5%	0.4%	0
2020/21 (Spring term)	198	2	1.0%	0.1%	0
2020/21 (Autumn term)	206	3	1.5%	0.4%	0
2019/20 (Summer term)	208	0	0.0%	0.0%	0
2019/20 (Spring term)	208	0	0.0%	0.4%	0
2019/20 (Autumn term)	206	1	0.5%	0.6%	0
2018/19 (Summer term)	203	2	1.0%	0.4%	0
2018/19 (Spring term)	199	0	0.0%	0.5%	0
2018/19 (Autumn term)	195	4	2.1%	0.5%	0
2017/18 (Summer term)	200	0	0.0%	0.5%	0
2017/18 (Spring term)	200	1	0.5%	0.4%	1
2017/18 (Autumn term)	198	7	3.5%	0.5%	0
2016/17 (Summer term)	256	2	0.8%	0.4%	0
2016/17 (Spring term)	251	1	0.4%	0.4%	0
2016/17 (Autumn term)	245	0	0.0%	0.5%	0

Source: DfE Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions in England. Data represents termly statistics as published by the Department for Education.

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Supported Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Primary areas of need currently supported by the school. A high number often indicates specialized internal units or high staff experience in these areas.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder 12 pupils

Speech, Language & Communication 7 pupils

Social, Emotional & Mental Health 3 pupils

Moderate Learning Difficulty 3 pupils

Profound & Multiple Learning 2 pupils

Specific Learning Difficulty 1 pupils