Lowton St Mary's CofE (Voluntary Aided) Primary School

About Lowton St Mary's CofE (Voluntary Aided) Primary School

Lowton St Mary's CofE Primary School sits squarely in the middle of the pack for Wigan primary schools, and its headline Key Stage 2 results tell a similar story. The school's combined reading, writing and maths expected standard score of 64% is almost exactly in line with the local authority average of 65%. That places it 53rd out of 99 primary schools in the borough, right around the median. Where the school does stand out is in its reading and maths average scaled scores: pupils achieved 104 in reading and 102 in maths, both comfortably above the national baseline of 100. The proportion reaching the higher standard in reading (24%) is also respectable. However, only 6% of pupils hit the higher standard in both reading and maths, which is a noticeably low figure and suggests that while most children are meeting expectations, very few are exceeding them at the top end.

The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, in January 2025, rated it Good across all five graded areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. This is consistent with its previous inspection in 2014, which also awarded a Good overall. The Parent View survey, based on 27 responses between September 2024 and September 2025, shows strong satisfaction overall, with 78% of parents saying they would recommend the school. However, there are some notable splits: while 85% of parents agree or strongly agree their child is happy, 15% disagree, and on the question of whether concerns are dealt with properly, the responses are evenly split at 26% agree and 26% disagree. The school's SEND support question received no responses at all, which may reflect a small number of SEND families or a gap in survey completion.

Lowton St Mary's is a Church of England voluntary aided primary school with a nursery, serving 244 pupils against a capacity of 210, so it is oversubscribed. For the 2025/26 intake, there were 95 applications for 30 places, with 29 first-preference offers made from 45 first-preference applications. That's a ratio of over three applicants per place, so families will need to be confident in their catchment position or church connection. The school offers a solid range of facilities including a gymnasium, sports hall, playing fields, art studios, music rooms, a sensory room and a chapel. Clubs include coding, drama, eco club and film club, and sports provision covers swimming, cricket, netball and athletics. SEND support is listed for social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language, hearing impairment and other difficulties. This is a solid, well-regarded local school that delivers in line with the Wigan average, but families aiming for the top tier of outcomes may want to look at the three highest-ranked primaries in the borough, all of which score above 90 on the ranking metric.

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