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Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh

Primary · Leigh · WN7 1UX

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Requires improvement

SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection

We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →

Quality of education: Requires improvementBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: Requires improvementSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 8 July 2025

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

300 pupils · 95% of 315 capacity

School type
Voluntary aided school
Age range
4–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Free school meals
32.3% of pupils
English as additional language
35.9% of pupils
SEN support
23.5% of pupils
EHC plan
2.7% of pupils
Website
http://www.leighsacredheart.wigan.sch.uk
URN
106502

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

0.49 first-choice applications per place

43 places offered · 21 first-choice applications · usually has places

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Reception

Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

How safe is a place here? Check your postcode

One free check a month, no account needed. No cutoff distance applied in 2026, so there is no boundary for your address to be inside of. The check shows how far you live from the school and how many rounds running it has placed every applicant. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools that do ration places by distance and whether you are inside them, and the address check across every school at once.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)

45 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths
51%
England 62%
Reaching the higher standard
0%
England 8%
Average scaled score (reading)
103
England 106
Average scaled score (maths)
103
England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 2024/2025

This school51%
Median of its 12 closest peers56.5%
Wigan average65.8%
England62%

On meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedResult
Balliol Primary SchoolBedford · 128 miles awayGood39%
William Ford CofE Junior SchoolDagenham · 176 miles awayGood67%
Herringthorpe Junior SchoolRotherham · 49 miles awayOutstanding85%
Whitemoor Academy (Primary and Nursery)Nottingham · 66 miles awayGood49%
Southgate PrimaryCrawley · 192 miles awayGood45%
English Martyrs Catholic Primary School, PrestonPreston · 20 miles awayGood41%
John Shelton Community Primary SchoolCoventry · 84 miles awayNo current grade37%
Corpus Christi Catholic Primary SchoolLeeds · 47 miles awayGood93%
John Henry Newman AcademyOxford · 135 miles awayGood69%
St John with St Mark CofE Primary SchoolBury · 12 miles awayGood43%
Farley Junior AcademyLuton · 142 miles awayOutstanding64%
Perry Wood Primary and Nursery SchoolWorcester · 91 miles awayGood82%

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
6.9%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
21%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
23.1
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

88% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 12% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£6,995
Typical primary school£6,959

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
2/10among the most deprived fifth of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
1/10among the most deprived tenth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher19.1%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications27.5%18.1%
In managerial or professional work16.8%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways26.1%18.1%
Residents in very good health44.2%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier39.8%62.3%
Social housing6.6%17.1%
Privately rented53.4%20.5%
Detached houses3.4%22.9%
Flats11.7%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms3.2%21.1%
Households with no car or van39.4%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01006334 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,668 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£145,000494 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£115,000–£204,500the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (48)£308,000
Semi-detached (125)£203,000
Terraced (290)£127,000
Flat (31)£102,500

Homes around this school are among the cheapest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
5an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
5an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
37an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
11an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools