High Lawn Primary School

High Lawn Primary School is a mainstream community primary in Bolton with provision for two-year-olds. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and under the current framework it received no overall effectiveness grade; inspectors judged each key area to be good. Pupils are proud of their school, behave well, and benefit from warm relationships with staff. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school’s strengths include a strong focus on reading, with consistent phonics teaching and effective support for pupils who need to catch up. Pupils typically achieve well in most subjects, and the wider development offer is strong, including leadership roles, visits, and sporting opportunities. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified swiftly and generally supported well, and staff value the school’s approach to workload and well-being. There are nevertheless some areas for improvement. A few subjects, including aspects of the early years curriculum, are not planned and sequenced clearly enough, so pupils do not always build well on prior learning. Governors’ oversight of some wider curriculum subjects is not robust enough, and early years staff sometimes miss opportunities in interactions to deepen children’s knowledge and vocabulary.

Strengths

• Pupils are polite, well mannered, and behave well in lessons, producing high-quality work.
• Reading is a top priority, with consistent phonics teaching helping pupils become confident, fluent readers.
• The school provides a broad curriculum and pupils achieve strongly in most subjects.
• Pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and typically supported well through training and agency liaison.
• Pupils’ wider development is strong, including committees, leadership roles, visits, and sporting opportunities.
• Relationships between pupils and staff are highly positive and create a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
• Staff appreciate the school’s thoughtful approach to managing workload and well-being.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• A few subjects, including aspects of early years, have underdeveloped curriculum planning and weak sequencing of key knowledge.
• In these subjects, pupils are less able to connect new content to prior learning and remember as much.
• Governors’ oversight of some wider curriculum subjects is not robust enough to support and challenge leaders effectively.
• In early years, staff sometimes miss opportunities in interactions to develop children’s knowledge and vocabulary.
• Early years staff need further training to use purposeful dialogue consistently across all areas of learning.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at High Lawn Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 14.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.8% of pupils at High Lawn Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 High Lawn Primary School had 24.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 10.4% of pupils at High Lawn Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 High Lawn Primary School received £7,312 and spent £7,596 for each of its 472 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £112,000 (-£237 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is High Lawn Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for High Lawn Primary School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was High Lawn Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

High Lawn Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does High Lawn Primary School have?

High Lawn Primary School has 492 pupils on roll.

What age range does High Lawn Primary School cover?

High Lawn Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are High Lawn Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 61% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is High Lawn Primary School?

High Lawn Primary School is at Holden Avenue, Sharples, Bolton, Lancashire, BL1 7EX.