Leigh CofE Primary School

About Leigh CofE Primary School

Leigh CofE Primary School is clearly a popular choice among local families. For the 2025/26 admissions round, the school received 57 applications for just 33 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.73. Of those applications, 28 were first-preference choices, and exactly 28 first-preference offers were made, meaning every family who put it as their top pick secured a spot. This suggests a community where word-of-mouth is strong and parents feel confident putting the school at the top of their list. The school is a Church of England primary in Wigan, with a nursery provision for children aged two and above, and it currently has 351 pupils on roll, slightly over its official capacity of 347. Headteacher Clare Oxborough leads a school that, in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, was rated Good overall, a significant improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2016.

Academically, the picture is mixed. At Key Stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 49% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That is well below the Wigan local authority average of 65%, and it places the school 88th out of 98 primary schools in the borough, putting it in the bottom half nationally. On individual subjects, 67% met the expected standard in reading and the same in maths, while writing lagged behind at 58%. At the higher standard, just 7% achieved the top marks across all three subjects. However, the school’s average scaled scores were 104 in reading and 102 in maths, both slightly above the national baseline of 100. Ofsted noted that behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management are all Good, though early years provision was judged as Requires Improvement.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a sports hall, gymnasium, library, ICT suite, sensory room, chapel, and a forest school area. Sports on offer include football, cricket, gymnastics and dance, while clubs cover drama, choir and chess. SEND provision is extensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate and severe learning difficulties, speech and language needs, hearing impairment, autistic spectrum disorder, and social, emotional and mental health support. For families considering alternatives, the nearest Outstanding-rated school is Leigh St John's CofE Primary, just 0.6 km away. Leigh CofE Primary is a good fit for parents who value a faith-based setting with strong community demand, a wide range of facilities, and a school that has shown clear improvement from a difficult past, but who are comfortable with academic results that sit below the local average.

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