St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton
Flapper Fold Lane, Atherton, Manchester, M46 0HA
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mrs DM Nulty
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Liverpool
- Constituency
- Leigh and Atherton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 184
- URN
- 106498
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01942882980
About this school
St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided primary school in Manchester. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 184 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Early years
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 18 | 31 | 24 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 83% | 77% | 54% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 11% | 10% | 13% |
| Expected standard in reading | 83% | 81% | 54% |
| Expected standard in maths | 89% | 87% | 75% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 78% | 74% | 50% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 109.0 | 107.0 | 101.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 109.0 | 107.0 | 104.0 |
| Reading progress | +2.60 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +3.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.70 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Wigan average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 83% | 62.4% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 77% | 62.7% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 54% | 63.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 158 |
| 2023/24 | 171 |
| 2024/25 | 184 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton compares
St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton ranked 78th of 97 primary schools in Wigan for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 28% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 54% | 4% | 37.5% | 184 | — |
| Meadowbank Primary School | 70% | 7.6% | 54.8% | 220 | 0.1 miles |
| Atherton St George's CofE Primary School | 56% | 6.8% | 54.3% | 333 | 0.2 miles |
| St Philip's CofE Primary School, Atherton | 71% | 5.5% | 15.4% | 397 | 0.5 miles |
| Chowbent Primary School | 36% | 5.8% | 32.4% | 147 | 0.5 miles |
| Parklee Primary School | — | — | — | 325 | 0.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 37.5%
- English as an additional language
- 25.5%
- Overall absence
- 4.01%
- Persistent absence
- 11.05%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Meadowbank Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Manchester
-
Atherton St George's CofE Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Manchester
-
St Philip's CofE Primary School, Atherton0.5 miles
Primary · Manchester
-
Chowbent Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Manchester
-
Parklee Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Wigan
Other schools in Manchester
St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton ranks 183rd of the 252 ranked primary schools in Manchester.
- Abbey Hey Primary Academy Primary
- Abbott Community Primary School Primary
- Acacias Community Primary School Primary
- Acre Hall Primary School Primary
- Aldwyn Primary School Primary
- Alkrington Primary School Primary
- All Saints C of E Primary School Primary
- All Saints Church of England Primary School, Stand Primary
- All Saints Primary School Primary
- Alma Park Primary School Primary
- Armitage CofE Primary School Primary
- Ashbury Meadow Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton teach?
- St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Manchester.
- Who is the headteacher of St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton?
- The headteacher of St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton is Mrs DM Nulty, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton?
- St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton has 184 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton full?
- St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton has capacity for 210 pupils and 184 on roll (88%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton a faith school?
- Yes. St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton is designated Roman Catholic, in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
- Does St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton as having no nursery classes.
- How have St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 83% in 2022/23 and 54% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton rank locally?
- St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton ranked 78th of 97 primary schools in Wigan for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 28% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton's absence rate?
- St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton's overall absence rate is 4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Richard's Roman Catholic Primary School Atherton's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 15 July 2026.