St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Hawkshaw

About St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Hawkshaw

St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Hawkshaw, is a small state primary in Bury that punches above its weight academically. It sits 4th out of 46 primary schools in the local authority, placing it comfortably in the top 10% of its LA. The three schools ahead of it are Emmanuel Holcombe Church of England Primary, Sunny Bank Primary, and Chantlers Primary, all of which score higher on the same ranking metric. With just 95 pupils on a capacity of 105, St Mary's is a genuinely intimate setting, and its Church of England character gives it a distinct identity within the Bury landscape. The school is oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 29 applications for 12 places, with 11 of those coming as first preferences. That level of demand suggests a strong local reputation, and the 2.42 oversubscription ratio means families need to be prepared to apply early.

Academically, St Mary's delivers results that outstrip the local average. In the 2023/24 KS2 assessments, 83% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, well above the Bury LA average of 64%. Writing was a particular strength, with every pupil meeting the expected standard and a third reaching the higher standard. Reading and maths both saw 83% and 92% hitting the expected mark respectively, and average scaled scores of 108 in reading and 105 in maths are solid. The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2024, judged overall effectiveness as not graded but rated quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management all as Good. That's a step down from its previous Outstanding rating in 2015, but the Good grades across the board are consistent. The early years provision was rated Requires improvement, which is worth noting for parents of younger children.

The school offers a practical range of facilities including playing fields, a library, gymnasium, ICT suite, sports hall and a chapel. Sports provision covers athletics, football, netball, rounders, cricket, cross country and swimming, and there are clubs for coding, gardening, science, chess and art. SEND support is listed for specific learning difficulties, severe learning difficulty, speech and language needs, visual impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. Parent View responses, collected between September 2024 and September 2025, show strong satisfaction: 93% of the 60 respondents agreed or strongly agreed their child is happy, and 88% would recommend the school. However, 12% said they would not, and concerns about how issues are dealt with saw 15% disagreeing. This is a school that suits families who value strong academic outcomes in a small, Church of England setting, but oversubscription means it's not an easy one to get into.

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