Lancaster School
Lancaster School is a special academy in Westcliff-on-Sea for boys and girls aged 14 to 19. It has 138 pupils, 32 more than it has places for. About 40 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted visited in June 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 0RT01702 342543lancaster.southend.sch.ukMr Tom Jackson-Owens headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 2 June 2026. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 10 March 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
27 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. That usually means the year group was too small to publish without identifying children.
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 Southend-on-Sea council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with physical disability, profound and multiple learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Southend-on-Sea with physical disability provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Severe learning difficulty (105), Moderate learning difficulty (12), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (10), Autistic spectrum disorder (9), emotional and mental health (1), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 138 | 131 | 131 | 126 | 104 | 96 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 36% | 36% | 40% | 43% | 46% | 45% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 8% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 82.7% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 17.3% | 14.7% | 18.0% | 9.1% | 15.8% | 10.2% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 13.6% | 12.1% | 14.4% | 6.0% | 15.8% | 10.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.8% | 2.6% | 3.6% | 3.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 38.3% | 36.0% | 45.3% | 21.2% | 61.5% | 40.0% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 23 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 96% | 85% | 92% | 100% |
| Education | 96% | 85% | 92% | 100% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 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 academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase High School | Academy | 0 m | 1,293 | Report card 2026 | 9 | Compare |
| Southend High School for Boys | Academy (grammar) | 440 m | 1,332 | Outstanding 2024 | 98 | Compare |
| Earls Hall Primary School | Council | 460 m | 638 | Good 2024 | 66 | Compare |
| Prince Avenue Academy and Nursery | Academy | 860 m | 509 | Good 2022 | 77 | Compare |
| The Westborough School | Academy | 910 m | 443 | Good 2024 | 41 | Compare |
| St Thomas More High School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,243 | Good 2024 | 81 | Compare |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School | Academy | 0.9 miles | 464 | Good 2022 | 55 | Compare |
| Southend YMCA Community School | Free schools alternative provision | 0.9 miles | 31 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Lancaster School a good school?
Lancaster School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from June 2026 rated its teaching as as expected.
What is Lancaster School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 2 June 2026 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Lancaster School have?
138 pupils aged 14 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 106 places, so it is 130% full.
What is attendance like at Lancaster School?
Pupils were in school 82.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 38% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Lancaster School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for physical disability, profound and multiple learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Lancaster School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 0RT
- Telephone
- 01702 342543
- Website
- lancaster.southend.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Tom Jackson-Owens
- Type of school
- Special academy (Academy special converter, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 14-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- SEN Trust Southend (4 schools)
- Local authority
- Southend-on-Sea
- Ward
- Prittlewell
- Constituency
- Southend West and Leigh
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2017 (academy converter)
- URN
- 144693 · LAESTAB 8827005 · UKPRN 10064817
- Formerly
- Lancaster School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 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.