St Matthew's CofE Primary School, Little Lever, Bolton
Data last updated 11 Sept 2026
Location
Estimated admission likelihood based on school density and oversubscription data
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Ofsted · 4 years agoOverall
Ofsted Insights
What This School Does Well
St Matthew's creates a welcoming, family-like community where pupils thrive personally and academically. The school has made impressive improvements in teaching and outcomes, particularly in early years and key stage 1, while maintaining a strong focus on supporting disadvantaged pupils to achieve as well as their peers. Staff are vigilant and caring, and pupils benefit from diverse opportunities to develop spiritually, morally and culturally.
Key Strengths
- Strong Christian values (faith, hope, honesty, love, justice) infused throughout the school community with excellent impact on pupils' personal development
- Consistently strong outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, including local awards for achievement
- Strengthened middle leadership with subject leaders monitoring standards and developing broad, vibrant curriculum
- Significant improvements in key stage 1 outcomes in 2017 after previous year's dip
- Excellent early years provision with children achieving good development levels above national average
Areas for Improvement
- School improvement plans are narrow in scope and do not seek to build upon areas already securely good
- Need to further accelerate progress in key stage 1 despite recent improvements
- Teaching of writing needs refinement to ensure pupils with low prior attainment are sufficiently challenged
- Teachers' expectations for low-ability pupils in writing not consistently high enough
Safeguarding
Safeguarding is effective with exemplary systems for keeping children safe, rigorous monitoring of vulnerable pupils' wellbeing, and strong partnerships with parents and external agencies.
Extracurricular Activities
Engineering club, work with local women's refuge centre on healthy relationships and hate crimes, e-safety programmes
St Matthew's CofE Primary School continues to be good following its October 2017 short inspection. The school has maintained quality education since 2012 and has continued to improve, with strong leadership driving improvements across teaching, pupils' personal development, and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.
At a Glance
19.9%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
Primary Performance (KS2)
Academic year 2025/26KS2 Results (% meeting expected standard)
Reading has declined from 79% to 58%. Maths has remained stable at around 68%. Writing has remained stable at around 55%.
Class Sizes
27.9
Avg class size
25.7
Infant (KS1)
29.5
KS2
7
Total classes
1 class with more than 30 pupils
2024/25 academic year
Getting There
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Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
93%
Near capacity
196 pupils
210 capacity
14 spare places available
Area Demand Pressure - Bolton
Based on MHCLG housing supply data for Bolton
Admissions Demand - Bolton
Places available
4,105
Applications
3,501
Got 1st preference
89.7%
Got preferred school
97.6%
Primary admissions across Bolton (2025/26)
Inspection History(6)
House Prices
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SEN Provision
How many pupils have special educational needs, what types of support the school provides, and how it compares to similar schools.
Pupil Demographics
The school's pupil mix - ethnicity breakdown, free school meals eligibility, and English as an additional language. Useful context when evaluating school fit.
Teachers & Staff
Teacher qualification rates, pupil-to-teacher ratio, staff turnover, and salary data. Shows how well-resourced and stable the school's workforce is.
School Funding
Annual funding per pupil, total budget, pupil premium grants, and how the school's resources compare to similar schools nationally.
Pupil Absence2024/25
4.16699%
Overall absence
8.79121%
Persistent absence
182
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
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Secondary Schools Nearby
Secondary schools pupils are likely to move to
St Matthew's CofE Primary School, Little Lever
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