Ss Simon & Jude CofE Primary School, Bolton

About Ss Simon & Jude CofE Primary School, Bolton

Ss Simon & Jude CofE Primary School in Bolton was rated Good overall by Ofsted in its most recent graded inspection in March 2024, a change from its previous Outstanding rating in 2016. The inspection report gave Good marks across every category, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The school’s most telling academic metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined at Key Stage 2: 59% did so in the 2023/24 academic year. That figure sits below the Bolton local authority average of 66%, placing the school 61st out of 87 primary schools in the borough. Nationally, it ranks in the bottom half of all primary schools on this measure. However, the school serves a significantly disadvantaged intake — 40.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals — which provides important context for these results.

Looking more closely at individual subjects, 79% of pupils met the expected standard in maths, with an average scaled score of 104, while 65% did so in reading (average score 103) and 74% in writing. At the higher standard, 22% achieved in maths, 29% in reading, 15% in writing, and 11% across all three subjects combined. The school does not publish progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it is not possible to say how much value it adds relative to pupils’ starting points. Ofsted’s previous Outstanding rating suggests the school has historically performed at a very high level, and the current Good judgement still reflects a solid standard of education. For parents weighing up options, the nearest Outstanding-rated primary is St William of York Catholic Primary School, 0.6 km away, while the top-performing school in the local authority on this metric is The Olive School, Bolton.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 92 applications for 60 places, with 55 first-preference offers made. That oversubscription ratio of 1.53 confirms strong local demand. Ss Simon & Jude is a Church of England primary for children aged 2 to 11, with nursery provision on site. It has a broad range of facilities including music rooms, an ICT suite, a sports hall, playing fields, an outdoor playground and a chapel. Clubs include coding, choir, eco club, drama, gardening and science club, and sports on offer are cross country, cricket, athletics and netball. The school lists eight SEND provisions covering specific learning difficulties, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. With 607 pupils against a capacity of 420, the school is operating well above its official capacity, which families should factor into their planning.

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