Westoning Lower School
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Westoning Lower School is a converter academy in Bedford for boys and girls aged 2 to 9. It has 115 pupils and room for 150. About 28 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. We give it 25 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 44% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
High Street, Westoning, Bedford, MK45 5JH01525 712994westoning.orgMrs Jacqueline Boyle headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 6 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.
Results
No published results yet for this school.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
52 places were empty (35% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have grown by 10% 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.
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 20.0 pupils (England 25.5); junior classes (Years 3 to 6) average 21.5 (England 27.3).
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (6), language and communications needs (4), Moderate learning difficulty (3), Autistic spectrum disorder (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 115 | 117 | 114 | 106 | 112 | 113 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 25% | 16% | 8% | 5% | 2% | 3% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 10% | 8% | 10% | 8% | 5% | 2% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 10% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 8% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 94.9% 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 | 5.1% | 6.3% | 5.4% | 5.6% | 2.1% | 4.1% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 3.3% | 5.1% | 4.3% | 4.9% | 1.5% | 3.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.9% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 1.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 12.7% | 16.1% | 14.3% | 14.7% | 4.0% | 10.9% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Westoning Lower School, the school this one replaced in June 2020. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
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 primary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlington Lower School | Academy | 1.1 miles | 130 | Good 2023 | 54 | Compare |
| Flitwick Lower School | Council | 1.3 miles | 336 | Good 2023 | 58 | Compare |
| Kingsmoor Lower School | Council | 1.5 miles | 167 | No overall grade 2025 | 83 | Compare |
| Woodland Middle School Academy | Academy | 1.5 miles | 645 | Good 2023 | 59 | Compare |
| Templefield Lower School | Council | 1.5 miles | 290 | Good 2023 | 85 | Compare |
| Greenfield CofE VC Lower School | Academy | 1.9 miles | 145 | Good 2024 | 53 | Compare |
| Parkfields Middle School | Academy | 2.8 miles | 460 | Good 2024 | 48 | Compare |
| Toddington St George Church of England School | Academy | 2.9 miles | 341 | Good 2022 | 55 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Westoning Lower School with the 43 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 43 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 43 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Westoning 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimpton Primary School | Council | 12.5 miles | 133 | Report card 2026 | 37 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 25 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 25% of primary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 10 to 53. That range is wide enough that the school could sit in the next band, so take the band as a rough guide rather than a verdict. 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% | in line | +0.03 | Ofsted grade, 2.3 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 0% | no data | – | |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.35 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | 0.00 | 2024/25; 79 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
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 Westoning Lower School a good school?
The figures are weak. Westoning Lower School scores 25 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 44% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 10 to 53, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Westoning Lower School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Westoning Lower School good at its last full inspection on 6 June 2024.
How many pupils does Westoning Lower School have?
115 pupils aged 2 to 9 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 150 places, so it is 77% full.
Is Westoning Lower School oversubscribed?
Probably not. 52 places were empty in 2024/25 (35% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Westoning Lower School?
Pupils were in school 94.9% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 13% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Westoning Lower School?
The average class had 20.6 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 25.4. No class had more than 30 pupils.
Does Westoning Lower School 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
- High Street, Westoning, Bedford, MK45 5JH
- Telephone
- 01525 712994
- Website
- www.westoning.org
- Headteacher
- Mrs Jacqueline Boyle
- 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
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Primary school, ages 2-9, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- The Pyramid Schools Trust (10 schools)
- Local authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Ward
- Westoning, Flitton & Greenfield
- Constituency
- Mid Bedfordshire
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 June 2020 (academy converter)
- URN
- 147994 · LAESTAB 8235201 · UKPRN 10086151
- Formerly
- Westoning Lower School
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, 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.