Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall, Poulton-Le-Fylde

Ofsted's report card from its 3 February 2026 inspection grades Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall on 7 areas: 2 expected standard and 5 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Most pupils attend school regularly."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "The school provides a coherent programme for pupils' personal development and wellbeing."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils do not achieve as well as they should."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Some parts of the curriculum are not taught effectively."

Early years - Needs attention. "The early years curriculum is not taught as well as it should be."

Inclusion - Needs attention. "Leaders' work to identify and address pupils' barriers to learning is not effective enough."

Leadership and governance - Needs attention. "Improvements needed across the school have not been consistently tackled or developed by leaders."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that high-quality teaching leads to the intended curriculum being implemented well, so that all pupils make suitable progress"; "Leaders should make sure that teachers have the expertise to effectively check what pupils know and remember, so that they address gaps in knowledge and skills promptly"; "Leaders should ensure that there are high expectations across the curriculum for pupils to embed their foundational skills, such as spelling, handwriting and numeracy, so that they are better prepared for the next stage of their education"; "Leaders should strengthen inclusive classroom practices across the curriculum in order to address variation in the progress of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils"; "Leaders should strengthen the early years provision by ensuring that the curriculum sets out how learning builds over time. They should make sure staff understand children's starting points so that they engage in high-quality interactions with children that develop their language and thinking"; "Leaders and governors should strengthen their evaluation and oversight so that the strategies they use and the professional development offer they provide lead to consistent improvements in classroom practice"; "Governors should ensure they have a clear understanding of school performance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that their challenge is focused and resources, including pupil premium spending, are effectively evaluated against pupils' outcomes".

From the headteacher's welcome: "As Headteacher I am proud to welcome you to our school. Our school is at the heart of our community in Preesall, with a unique outdoor learning offer due our unique location, with both a Forest and Beach school outdoor learning offer in our school grounds and beyond. There are over 160 children on-roll, taught in seven single-aged classes."

The school runs a breakfast club from 7:30am and after-school care.

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils at Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall reached the expected standard in reading and 57% in maths. At the average state primary the figures were 75% and 74% in Lancashire and 77% and 75% across England.

Results fell from 72% in reading and 69% in maths in 2024.

With small year groups, a few pupils can move these figures by several points.

For September 2026 entry, 14 families put Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall as their first choice and 28 named it as one of their preferences, for 15 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state primary schools to Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall are Preesall Fleetwood's Charity Church of England Primary School (1.3 miles, Good, 56% reading, 67% maths); Pilling St John's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School (1.9 miles, Good, 100% reading, 93% maths); St. Mary's Catholic Primary School, Fleetwood (2.5 miles); and Stalmine Primary School (2.5 miles, Good, 69% reading, 56% maths).

Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall's 2025 results were higher than 1 of these 3 schools.

21 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall (as of April 2026): 71% would recommend the school, 91% say their child is happy there and 67% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child is happy at the school (91%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (67%).

1.2% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The nearest tram or metro stop is Fleetwood Ferry (Blackpool Tramway), about 2.2 miles away in a straight line.

3 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Carters Charity School (by), 70 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 12 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, other theft and criminal damage and arson. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Lancashire (109).

In 2024/25, Carter's Charity Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Preesall issued 2 suspensions, 1.1 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.