Appletree Nursery School
Appletree Nursery School is a local authority nursery school in Lancaster for boys and girls aged 0 to 4. It has 78 pupils. About 13 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Milking Stile Lane, Lancaster, LA1 5QB0152464132Miss Lucy Naylor headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 14 May 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 6 July 2023 | Ungraded | School remains Outstanding (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Lancashire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (9), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (4), Other difficulty or disability (2), Autistic spectrum disorder (1), Hearing impairment (1), Physical disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 78 | 66 | 56 | 58 | 59 | 67 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 13% | 17% | 18% | 16% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 26% | 27% | 18% | 22% | 14% | 13% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 15% | 13% | 21% | 12% | 19% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Lane Community Primary School | Council | 90 m | 199 | No overall grade 2025 | 15 | Compare |
| Lancaster Independent School for Alternative Learning (Lisal) | Independent | 410 m | 13 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Lancaster Dallas Road Community Primary School | Council | 760 m | 372 | Good 2022 | 56 | Compare |
| Lancaster Girls' Grammar School | Academy (grammar) | 820 m | 1,038 | Good 2022 | 93 | Compare |
| Our Lady's Catholic College | Roman Catholic | 0.7 miles | 981 | Requires improvement 2024 | 11 | Compare |
| The Loyne Specialist School | Council | 0.8 miles | 121 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
| Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,755 | Outstanding 2022 | 87 | Compare |
| Lancaster Ryelands Primary School | Council | 0.8 miles | 362 | Report card 2026 | 43 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Appletree Nursery School a good school?
Appletree Nursery School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in May 2024.
What is Appletree Nursery School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Appletree Nursery School good at its last full inspection on 14 May 2024.
How many pupils does Appletree Nursery School have?
78 pupils aged 0 to 4 were on the roll in January 2026.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Milking Stile Lane, Lancaster, LA1 5QB
- Telephone
- 0152464132
- Headteacher
- Miss Lucy Naylor
- Type of school
- Local authority nursery school (Local authority nursery school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Nursery school, ages 0-4, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Ward
- Marsh
- Constituency
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 2 September 2005 (new nursery school)
- URN
- 134991 · LAESTAB 8881049
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.