Linslade Lower School
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Linslade Lower School is a council school in Leighton Buzzard for boys and girls aged 3 to 9. It has 181 pupils and room for 225. About 4 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. We give it 79 out of 100. That puts it above schools like it, ahead of 42% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in November 2025 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Leopold Road, Linslade, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 2QU01525 372085linsladelower.co.ukMrs Hazel Farlam headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 25 November 2025. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 27 January 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good |
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
75 places were empty (33% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have stayed about the same since 2021/22.
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 Central Bedfordshire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
What parents say
From Ofsted's Parent View survey: 109 parents answered in the year to 6 April 2026. Parents choose whether to fill it in, and many only do so when an inspection is coming, so don't read too much into small differences. The England figures are the average for primary schools with enough answers to publish.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) average 30.3 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 30.5 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (4), language and communications needs (4), Autistic spectrum disorder (2), Hearing impairment (1), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 181 | 173 | 173 | 168 | 180 | 179 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 4% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 6% | 7% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 5% | 4% | 5% | 4% | 3% | 6% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 8% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 9% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 3% | 2% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 97.3% 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 | 2.7% | 3.2% | 3.5% | 6.0% | 2.7% | 3.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 2.3% | 2.5% | 3.1% | 4.5% | 1.7% | 2.7% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 1.5% | 1.0% | 0.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 1.7% | 5.9% | 6.8% | 10.9% | 5.2% | 5.4% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 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 primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southcott Lower School | Council | 390 m | 312 | Good 2023 | 85 | Compare |
| Greenleas School | Council | 920 m | 664 | Good 2024 | 64 | Compare |
| The Mary Bassett Lower School | Council | 0.6 miles | 378 | Good 2024 | 28 | Compare |
| Leighton Middle School | Council | 0.6 miles | 597 | Good 2024 | 83 | Compare |
| Linslade School | Academy | 0.7 miles | 721 | Good 2022 | 75 | Compare |
| Pulford CofE VA Lower School | Church of England | 0.7 miles | 259 | Good 2023 | 74 | Compare |
| The Rushmere Park Academy | Academy | 1.1 miles | 207 | Report card 2026 | 9 | Compare |
| Clipstone Brook Lower School | Council | 1.2 miles | 306 | Good 2019 | 69 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Linslade Lower School with the 48 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 48 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 48 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Linslade Lower School, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuddington and Dinton CofE School | Church of England | 13.8 miles | 179 | Good 2023 | 87 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 79 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 79% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 58 to 91. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 0% | no data | – | |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | below | -0.26 | Ofsted report card, 0.8 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | above | +0.19 | results and attendance rising year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | well above | +0.33 | 2024/25; 121 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 5% | well above | +0.13 | Ofsted's Parent View survey, allowing for how many parents replied; 109 responses |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is Linslade Lower School a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Linslade Lower School scores 79 out of 100. That is above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 42% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 58 to 91, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been getting better over the last five years.
What is Linslade Lower School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 25 November 2025 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Linslade Lower School have?
181 pupils aged 3 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 225 places, so it is 80% full.
Is Linslade Lower School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 75 places were empty in 2024/25 (33% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Linslade Lower School?
Pupils were in school 97.3% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 2% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
What do parents say about Linslade Lower School?
99% of the 109 parents who answered Ofsted's Parent View survey would recommend it to other parents, and 99% say their child is happy there. Across England, 87% of parents would recommend their child's school.
How big are the classes at Linslade Lower School?
The average class had 29.3 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. 33% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Leopold Road, Linslade, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 2QU
- Telephone
- 01525 372085
- Website
- www.linsladelower.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Hazel Farlam
- Type of school
- Council school (Community school, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 3-9, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Leighton-Linslade West
- Constituency
- Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 109515 · LAESTAB 8232188 · UKPRN 10077767
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.
- 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.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- 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.