Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School
Walmesley Road, Leigh, WN7 1YE
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Headteacher
- Mrs Sarah Watson
- Diocese
- Diocese of Manchester
- Constituency
- Leigh and Atherton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 211
- URN
- 106516
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01942673889
About this school
Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School is a Church of England voluntary aided primary school in Leigh. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 211 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
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 27 June 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
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 | 30 | 30 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 47% | 57% | 43% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 3% | 10% |
| Expected standard in reading | 57% | 70% | 70% |
| Expected standard in maths | 53% | 77% | 60% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 53% | 73% | 57% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 102.0 | 104.0 | 103.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 101.0 | 104.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.40 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.00 | - | - |
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 Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School 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 | 47% | 62.4% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 57% | 62.7% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 43% | 63.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 209 |
| 2023/24 | 208 |
| 2024/25 | 207 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School compares
Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School ranked 92nd of 97 primary schools in Wigan for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 14% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43% | 5.2% | 29.5% | 211 | — |
| Leigh Central Primary School | 55% | 5.7% | 49.3% | 211 | 0.1 miles |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh | 51% | 7% | 33.9% | 300 | 0.1 miles |
| Leigh CofE Primary School | 60% | 5.6% | 45.3% | 350 | 0.1 miles |
| Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington | 43% | 6.6% | 40.4% | 205 | 0.4 miles |
| Leigh St John's CofE Primary | 67% | 4.7% | 20.3% | 210 | 0.4 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.47%
- English as an additional language
- 15%
- Overall absence
- 5.18%
- Persistent absence
- 13.26%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Leigh Central Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh0.1 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Leigh CofE Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Christ Church CofE Primary School, Pennington0.4 miles
Primary · Leigh
-
Leigh St John's CofE Primary0.4 miles
Primary · Leigh
Other schools in Leigh
Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School ranks 13th 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 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
- St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Leigh Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School teach?
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Leigh.
- Who is the headteacher of Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School?
- The headteacher of Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School is Mrs Sarah Watson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School, 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 Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School?
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School has 211 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School full?
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 211 on roll (100%), so it is at or above 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 Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School a faith school?
- Yes. Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School is designated Church of England, in the Diocese of Manchester.
- Does Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 47% in 2022/23 and 43% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School rank locally?
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School ranked 92nd of 97 primary schools in Wigan for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 14% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 56% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School's absence rate?
- Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School's overall absence rate is 5.2% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Leigh St Mary's CofE Primary School'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.