Croftlands Junior School

About Croftlands Junior School

Croftlands Junior School in Ulverston is a state primary for children aged 7 to 11, currently operating well below its physical capacity. With 161 pupils on roll against a school capacity of 240, there is significant room for growth, and the school is not oversubscribed. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 14.3%, which is slightly above the national average for primary schools in England (around 12-13%) and suggests a moderate level of socio-economic diversity in the intake. The school is mixed gender and has no religious character, so it serves a broad cross-section of the local community in Westmorland and Furness. Despite the spare capacity, the school has held a Good rating from Ofsted since its most recent graded inspection, having improved from a Requires Improvement judgement in 2011. The leadership and management, as well as overall effectiveness, are both rated Good, and an ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed the school remains Good.

Academically, Croftlands sits in the bottom half of primary schools nationally and locally. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, just 41% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared to the Westmorland and Furness local authority average of 58%. This places the school 85th out of 99 primary schools in the area, and in the bottom 50% nationally. Individual subject results are mixed: 71% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and 62% in maths, but only 41% did so in writing. At the higher standard, just 3% achieved the top marks across all three subjects, though 26% reached the higher standard in reading alone. Average scaled scores were 103 in reading and 102 in maths, both slightly above the national average of 100, suggesting that while most pupils are not exceeding expectations, they are broadly meeting the baseline.

The school offers a decent range of facilities including a library, ICT suite, art studios, forest school, sensory room and playing fields, plus a chapel. Sports provision covers netball, swimming, football, rounders and cricket, and there are clubs for drama, eco club, choir and book club. SEND support is well-documented, with provisions for specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. For families prioritising academic outcomes, the data suggests this is a school where most children achieve the expected standard in reading and maths but struggle more with writing, and where combined results lag behind the local average. It may suit families who value a smaller, less pressured environment with good pastoral and SEND support, rather than those seeking top-tier academic performance.

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