Rolls Crescent Primary School

Rolls Crescent Primary School is an inclusive, proudly diverse inner-city primary in Manchester, part of the Changing Lives in Collaboration Trust. Inspectors found safeguarding standards met and the school fulfilling expected standards across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, early years, inclusion, and leadership and governance, with personal development and wellbeing judged a strong standard. Pupils are happy, safe and well behaved, benefit from warm relationships and effective pastoral support, and access an ambitious curriculum tailored to the school's urban context. Attendance is improving, and disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND attend in line with national expectations. The main concerns are that teaching does not always consistently take account of what pupils already know and can do, including in handwriting, and that leaders' oversight of SEND progress sometimes lacks clear information to plan next steps. Newly arrived pupils with English as an additional language, and children joining Reception part way through the year, can have lower outcomes or be less well prepared for Year 1 because they have had less time to benefit from the school's curriculum. Leadership, governance, staff development and inclusion are otherwise effective, and pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

Strengths

• Personal development and wellbeing are a strong standard, with a coherent programme tailored to pupils' urban context
• Pastoral systems are highly effective and leaders identify vulnerability early
• Pupils learn how to stay safe online and in their community, including through targeted workshops
• The school celebrates diverse faiths and cultures and pupils show respect for others' values and beliefs
• Pupils behave well, bullying is rare, and pupils trust adults to deal with incidents swiftly
• Attendance is improving, with disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND attending in line with national expectations
• The curriculum is ambitious and well planned, with clear endpoints and adaptations to the local context
• Early years provision is ambitious, with communication, language and vocabulary at its heart
• Inclusion is strong, with timely support for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils
• Leadership, governance and trust oversight are effective and focused on pupils' best interests
• Staff feel valued, receive useful training and have meaningful opportunities for progression
• Safeguarding standards are met within an open and positive culture

Areas for Improvement

• Not all staff consistently design learning that takes sufficient account of pupils' prior learning and starting points, including in handwriting
• Oversight of the progress made by pupils with SEND sometimes does not provide leaders with clear and concise evidence to inform next steps
• Newly arrived pupils with English as an additional language can achieve lower outcomes in national tests, such as phonics, because they have had less time to benefit from the curriculum
• Children who join Reception part way through the year sometimes have less time to benefit from early years provision and are less well prepared for Year 1
• Overall absence and persistent absence remain above national averages, although attendance is improving

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 Rolls Crescent Primary School attended 93.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.0% 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 Rolls Crescent 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 Rolls Crescent Primary School had 15.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.9% 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, 27.4% of pupils at Rolls Crescent Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 9.5% 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 Rolls Crescent Primary School received £7,816 and spent £7,519 for each of its 400 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £212,000 (£529 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Changing Lives in Collaboration, income was £7,528 and spending £7,581 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 Manchester · Manchester local authority: places and applications

Rolls Crescent Primary School is part of Changing Lives in Collaboration, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Old Moat Primary School Manchester
• Chorlton Park Primary Manchester
• Lily Lane Primary School Manchester
• Dane Bank Primary School Stockport
• Crosslee Community Primary School Manchester
• Ravensfield Primary School Dukinfield

What is Rolls Crescent Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Rolls Crescent Primary School is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Rolls Crescent Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Rolls Crescent Primary School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Rolls Crescent Primary School have?

Rolls Crescent Primary School has 325 pupils on roll.

What age range does Rolls Crescent Primary School cover?

Rolls Crescent Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Rolls Crescent Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 64% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Rolls Crescent Primary School?

Rolls Crescent Primary School is at Rolls Crescent, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5FT.