Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln
Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln is a free schools alternative provision in Lincoln for boys and girls aged 4 to 16. It has 84 pupils and room for 130. About 79 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2022.
Macaulay Drive, Lincoln, LN2 4EL01522 308310springwellalternativeacademylincoln.co.ukMrs Lisa Ashcroft-Day headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 12 July 2022, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
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 Lincolnshire 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: emotional and mental health (76), Specific learning difficulty (3), language and communications needs (3), Moderate learning difficulty (1), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 84 | 81 | 48 | 52 | 30 | 25 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 79% | 82% | 73% | 73% | 60% | 64% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 1% | 1% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 86% | 79% | 65% | 53% | 68% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 12% | 21% | 35% | 47% | 32% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 9 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 22% | 50% | 30% |
| Education | 22% | 17% | 30% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 17% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 17% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 44% | 33% | 50% |
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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lincoln St Giles Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 140 m | 113 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Giles Academy | Academy | 190 m | 371 | Report card 2026 | 2 | Compare |
| Our Lady of Lincoln Catholic Primary School A Voluntary Academy | Academy | 550 m | 196 | Good 2023 | 28 | Compare |
| Lincoln Christ's Hospital School | Academy | 590 m | 1,275 | No overall grade 2024 | 23 | Compare |
| Ermine Primary Academy | Academy | 830 m | 400 | Good 2024 | 29 | Compare |
| Lincoln Bishop University | Higher education institutions | 0.8 miles | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| The Lincoln St Peter-In-Eastgate Church of England Infants Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 79 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Lincoln Castle Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 744 | Inadequate 2022 | 6 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln a good school?
Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in July 2022.
What is Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln good at its last full inspection on 12 July 2022. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How many pupils does Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln have?
84 pupils aged 4 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 130 places, so it is 65% full.
Does Springwell Alternative Academy Lincoln have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Macaulay Drive, Lincoln, LN2 4EL
- Telephone
- 01522 308310
- Website
- springwellalternativeacademylincoln.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Lisa Ashcroft-Day
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Free schools alternative provision (Free schools alternative provision, free schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 4-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Wellspring Academy Trust (33 schools)
- Local authority
- Lincolnshire
- Ward
- Glebe
- Constituency
- Lincoln
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 10 June 2019 (new provision)
- URN
- 147195 · LAESTAB 9251117 · UKPRN 10083787
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.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.