St Stephen's CofE Primary School, Manchester

Ofsted's report card from its 10 March 2026 inspection grades St Stephen's CofE Primary School on 7 areas: 3 expected standard and 4 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Early years - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed an exciting curriculum that engages children well."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders ensure that when children first join the Nursery class, staff identify any special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or barriers to learning."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders enhance the personal development programme to meet the ever-changing needs of pupils and society."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Leaders do not ensure that pupils gain sufficient knowledge and skills across the wider curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Leaders have high expectations for pupils' attendance."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Some teachers do not have the expertise to ensure that pupils build knowledge and skills well across some subjects."

Leadership and governance - Needs attention. "Weaknesses are not identified precisely or addressed quickly enough."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that they have a clear oversight of all areas of the school's work so that, where an area falls short of the expected standard, they are able to address the precise issues in a timely and effective way"; "Leaders should develop teaching expertise so that pupils are consistently taught in a way which supports them to build knowledge and skills across subjects and year groups"; "Leaders, including governors, should ensure that they have a robust oversight of incidents of child-on-child violence and that accurate reporting and record-keeping facilitate their monitoring to reduce incidents"; "Leaders should ensure that all staff share the same high expectations for behaviour and consistently apply the behaviour policy to swiftly address unacceptable behaviour and ensure a calm and orderly environment across the school day".

From the headteacher's welcome: ""St. Stephen's C.E. Primary School continues to be a good school. Pupils love coming to school. Staff enable pupils to believe in themselves. Staff ensure that pupils are happy and safe at school by taking good care of them. Pupils, and their parents and carers, spoke highly of teachers and other staff. Pupils said that teachers make learning fun."

The school runs a breakfast club and after-school care, from £4.50 per day.

Coming up: an open evening on Tuesday 24 November 2026. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2025, 77% of Year 6 pupils at St Stephen's CofE Primary School reached the expected standard in reading and 80% in maths. At the average state primary the figures were 78% and 79% in Wigan and 77% and 75% across England.

Results were similar in 2024 (80% in reading, 77% in maths).

With small year groups, a few pupils can move these figures by several points.

For September 2026 entry, 25 families put St Stephen's CofE Primary School as their first choice and 81 named it as one of their preferences, for 28 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state primary schools to St Stephen's CofE Primary School are St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School (0.3 miles, Good, 90% reading, 87% maths); Tyldesley Primary School (0.5 miles, Good, 91% reading, 93% maths); Garrett Hall Primary School (0.8 miles, Outstanding, 88% reading, 93% maths); and Tyldesley St George's Central CofE Primary School and Nursery (0.9 miles, Good, 77% reading, 77% maths).

St Stephen's CofE Primary School's 2025 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

72 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about St Stephen's CofE Primary School (as of April 2026): 94% would recommend the school, 97% say their child is happy there and 100% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (100%); the weakest, that they are kept well informed about progress (89%).

15.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 5% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (84%) and Black (5%).

In 2026, 25 pupils (10.4%) received SEN support and 5 (2.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is speech, language and communication needs.

The nearest railway station is Atherton Rail Station, about 2.1 miles away in a straight line.

9 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Astley Hall Drive (cnr), 180 metres away.

In 2024/25, St Stephen's CofE Primary School issued 5 suspensions, 2.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The secondary schools closest to St Stephen's CofE Primary School are St Mary's Catholic High School (0.5 miles), Fred Longworth High School (1.2 miles) and Bedford High School (1.5 miles).