The Pilgrim School
The Pilgrim School is a council special school in Boston for boys and girls aged 4 to 16. It has 7 pupils. About 29 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Sutterton Drove, Boston, PE20 3RQ01522 682319pilgrim.lincs.sch.ukMr S Barnes headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 19 June 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
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 (7).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 7 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 27 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 29% | 60% | 25% | 44% | 47% | 33% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 14% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 20% | 0% | 11% | 21% | 26% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 80% | 100% | 89% | 79% | 74% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 30.5% 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 | 69.5% | 68.1% | 65.7% | 63.3% | 64.4% | 63.1% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 67.9% | 66.4% | 64.9% | 61.5% | 62.8% | 60.0% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.6% | 1.7% | 0.7% | 1.8% | 1.6% | 3.2% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 100.0% | 98.6% | 98.5% | 98.8% | 96.5% | 98.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 8 pupils who left in 2021/22 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 88% | 69% |
| Education | 88% | 69% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 23% |
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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heckington House School | Independent | 2.8 miles | 28 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Gipsey Bridge Academy | Academy | 3.6 miles | 97 | Good 2024 | 32 | Compare |
| Swineshead St Mary's Church of England Primary School | Academy | 4.3 miles | 240 | Good 2021 | 50 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Pilgrim School a good school?
The Pilgrim School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in June 2024.
What is The Pilgrim School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated The Pilgrim School good at its last full inspection on 19 June 2024.
How many pupils does The Pilgrim School have?
7 pupils aged 4 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026.
What is attendance like at The Pilgrim School?
Pupils were in school 30.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 100% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Sutterton Drove, Boston, PE20 3RQ
- Telephone
- 01522 682319
- Website
- www.pilgrim.lincs.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr S Barnes
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 4-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Lincolnshire
- Ward
- Swineshead and Holland Fen
- Constituency
- Boston and Skegness
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 120753 · LAESTAB 9257012 · UKPRN 10016177
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.
- 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.