St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh
Mather Lane, Leigh, WN7 2PW
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Acting Headteacher
- Mr Liam Richardson
- Diocese
- Archdiocese of Liverpool
- Constituency
- Leigh and Atherton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 204
- URN
- 106501
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01942606395
About this school
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided primary school in Leigh. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 204 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit 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
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- 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 | 30 | 31 | 31 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 70% | 74% | 45% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 10% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 77% | 90% | 87% |
| Expected standard in maths | 83% | 94% | 94% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 83% | 81% | 84% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 107.0 | 108.0 | 108.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 107.0 | 107.0 | 109.0 |
| Reading progress | +2.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.90 | - | - |
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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh 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 | 70% | 62.4% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 74% | 62.7% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 45% | 63.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 205 |
| 2023/24 | 212 |
| 2024/25 | 213 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh compares
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh ranked 90th of 97 primary schools in Wigan for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 45% | 5.8% | 20.7% | 204 | — |
| St Thomas' CofE Primary School, Leigh | 48% | 5.4% | 27.3% | 395 | 0.3 miles |
| Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington | 43% | 6.6% | 40.4% | 205 | 0.4 miles |
| Leigh CofE Primary School | 60% | 5.6% | 45.3% | 350 | 0.5 miles |
| Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School | 43% | 5.2% | 29.5% | 211 | 0.6 miles |
| Leigh Central Primary School | 55% | 5.7% | 49.3% | 211 | 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)
- 20.66%
- English as an additional language
- 15%
- Overall absence
- 5.78%
- Persistent absence
- 12.57%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Thomas' CofE Primary School, Leigh0.3 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington0.4 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Leigh CofE Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Leigh Central Primary School0.6 miles
Primary · Leigh
Other schools in Leigh
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh ranks 12th of the 15 ranked primary schools in Leigh.
- Bedford Hall Methodist Primary School Primary
- Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington Primary
- Gilded Hollins Community School Primary
- Leigh Central Primary School Primary
- Leigh CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh St John's CofE Primary Primary
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh St Peter's CofE Primary School Primary
- Leigh Westleigh Methodist Primary School Primary
- Newton Westpark Primary School Primary
- Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh Primary
- St Gabriel's Catholic Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh teach?
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Leigh.
- Who is the acting headteacher of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh?
- The acting headteacher of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh is Mr Liam Richardson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh?
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh has 204 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh full?
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh has capacity for 210 pupils and 204 on roll (97%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh a faith school?
- Yes. St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh is designated Roman Catholic, in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
- Does St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh as having no nursery classes.
- How have St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 70% in 2022/23 and 45% 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh compare with other schools in Wigan?
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh ranked 90th of 97 primary schools in Wigan for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 16% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 43% 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 Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh's absence rate?
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh's overall absence rate is 5.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh'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 29 June 2026.