St Mark's CofE Primary School

St Mark's CofE Primary has demonstrated good overall effectiveness in its recent inspection, highlighting significant improvements since its last evaluation, which required improvement. The school shows a strong ethos of care, with staff fostering positive relationships with pupils and families, contributing to a safe and supportive environment. Additionally, the curriculum has been revised to better support learning, especially for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, challenges remain in certain subjects where the curriculum lacks clarity on essential knowledge needed for student progression, particularly in early reading and phonics.

Strengths

• Pupils feel happy and safe at school.
• The school has high expectations for all students' learning.
• Strong relationships are built between staff and pupils.
• Effective support for pupils with SEND.
• Reading is prioritized and enjoyed across the school.
• Improved pupil attendance.
• Pupils have positive attitudes towards learning and work collaboratively.

Areas for Improvement

• Some subjects have unclear curriculum expectations, leading to gaps in knowledge.
• Pupils do not get enough chances to recap on previously learned material.
• A minority of pupils are not adequately supported in catching up with phonics.

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 St Mark's CofE Primary School attended 94.8% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.1% 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, 0.4% of pupils at St Mark's CofE 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 St Mark's CofE Primary School had 22.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 29.2% 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, 50.0% of pupils at St Mark's CofE Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 6.7% 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 2024–25 St Mark's CofE Primary School received £8,317 and spent £8,082 for each of its 221 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £228,000 (£1,029 per pupil).

Across all 3 schools of The Wings' Ce Trust, income was £7,679 and spending £7,502 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.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Wigan · Wigan local authority: places and applications

St Mark's CofE Primary School is part of The Wings' Ce Trust, which runs 3 schools. The nearest others:

• Leigh CofE Primary School Leigh
• Atherton St George's CofE Primary School Manchester

What is St Mark's CofE Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Mark's CofE Primary School is Good, from an inspection in November 2023.

When was St Mark's CofE Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Mark's CofE Primary School was last inspected in November 2023.

How many pupils does St Mark's CofE Primary School have?

St Mark's CofE Primary School has 240 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Mark's CofE Primary School cover?

St Mark's CofE Primary School for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are St Mark's CofE Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 44% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Mark's CofE Primary School?

St Mark's CofE Primary School is at Alexandra Street, Newtown, Wigan, Lancashire, WN5 9DS.