Little Lever School

Little Lever School is a secondary school in Bolton and the only school in the Lever Academy Trust. Inspectors found a school performing well overall: safeguarding standards are met, curriculum and teaching are strong, and achievement, attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership, and personal development all meet expected standards. The curriculum is ambitious and consistently implemented, teachers explain new content clearly, and assessment is used well to find and close gaps. Pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, generally receive effective support, produce high-quality work, and are well prepared for their next steps. Pupils are proud of their school and benefit from warm, respectful relationships and clear routines. Behaviour is calm and disruption rare; bullying is dealt with quickly. Personal development and careers education are strengths, with a range of activities and employer encounters. Leadership and governance are effective, staff feel supported, and trustees provide appropriate challenge and resources. Concerns remain around attendance and self-regulation. Overall absence and persistent absence have been above national averages, and some pupils still miss too much school, including wider opportunities. Leaders' strategies are reducing persistent absence but need to secure consistently high attendance. Some behaviour-support strategies do not yet help pupils manage their own behaviour and emotions independently, and some pupils' barriers are not consistently reduced, so they do not fully benefit from the school's offer. Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes have gaps compared with national non-disadvantaged peers, although recent English and maths results are above average.

Strengths

• Ambitious curriculum is implemented consistently well across year groups and subjects.
• Teachers are subject experts who provide clear explanations of new knowledge and skills.
• Teaching activities are carefully considered and increase in complexity over time.
• Highly effective assessment identifies what pupils know and do not know, and gaps are retaught.
• Pupils with SEND and those struggling with reading, writing and numeracy receive effective support.
• Pupils produce high-quality work and develop secure knowledge over time.
• Pupils are well prepared for their chosen destinations after secondary school.
• Behaviour is calm and pupils behave well; bullying and unkind behaviour are rare and handled quickly.
• Pupils have positive and respectful relationships with staff and each other.
• Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND are identified accurately and supported well.
• Leaders work with other professionals and monitor extra support to check it is working.
• Leadership and governance are effective, with trustees supporting and challenging decisions.
• Staff benefit from comprehensive professional development and wellbeing support.
• Personal development teaches pupils about differences, British values, and staying safe online and offline.
• Pupils benefit from effective pastoral support and specific spaces to discuss concerns.
• A range of extra activities and leadership opportunities broaden pupils' interests.
• The careers programme provides pupils with information and employer encounters to make informed choices.

Areas for Improvement

• Overall attendance has not been high enough over time.
• Overall absence and persistent absence remain above national averages.
• Some pupils' absence rates remain high, so they miss consistent education and wider opportunities.
• Behaviour-support strategies do not always help pupils manage their own behaviour and emotions independently.
• Some pupils' barriers are not consistently reduced, meaning they do not fully benefit from the school's offer.
• Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes show gaps compared with national non-disadvantaged peers.

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 Little Lever School attended 89.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 28.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 17.2% of pupils at Little Lever School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 Little Lever School had 17.4 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 16.3% of pupils at Little Lever School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Little Lever School received £7,619 and spent £7,653 for each of its 1,068 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £480,000 (£449 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

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What is Little Lever School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Little Lever School is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Little Lever School last inspected by Ofsted?

Little Lever School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Little Lever School have?

Little Lever School has 1,085 pupils on roll.

What age range does Little Lever School cover?

Little Lever School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Little Lever School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 45.8, and 57% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Little Lever School?

Little Lever School is at Church Street, Little Lever, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL3 1BT.