Cherry Tree Primary School
General Information
- Address: Highfield Road, Farnworth, Bolton, BL4 0NS – View on map
- Phone: 01204335883
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mrs Liz Peacock
- Age range: 4-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 40 families put it first for 45 places – 9 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 3 of the 45 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 9 · 2024 9 · 2025 10 · 2026 9
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Does not apply
- Nursery provision: No
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 194
- % eligible for free school meals: 47.5%
- Pupil mix: 5 in 10 (similar to the Bolton average)
- English as an additional language: 17% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 13.2% a year (Bolton 13.3%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 53% moved to another school, 47% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)
Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across Bolton: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 2 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 6 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 0 (0.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
- Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)
These are figures for all state primary schools in Bolton, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.
Attendance
- Overall absence: 7.7%
- Persistently absent pupils: 27.1%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 14.2%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 5.1%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Speech, language and communications needs: 29 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 10 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 6 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 5 pupils
- Other difficulty or disability: 4 pupils
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 8 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 4 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 3 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 2 pupils
- Physical disability: 2 pupils
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Ofsted report card March 2026
Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.
- Safeguarding Met
- Inclusion Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
- Achievement Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
- Early years Expected standard
- Leadership and governance Expected standard
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 44% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 2% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 21 percentage points below the Bolton average (65%)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: Below (3-year average 44% against an expected 52%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 44%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 53% · Writing 47% · Maths 47% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 40%
- Average test scores: reading 100, maths 99
- Based on: 57 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25
View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.
SATs results over time
Year 6 SATs: joint 83rd of 88 junior and primary schools in the area
- #81St Matthew's CofE Primary School, Bolton47%
- #82Leverhulme Community Primary School45%
- =83Cherry Tree Primary School44%
- =83Tonge Moor Primary Academy44%
- #85St Matthew's CofE Primary School, Little Lever42%
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £7,635 (2024-25)
8th of 92 primary schools in Bolton for spending per pupil
- #6St Matthew's CofE Primary School, Bolton£7,732
- #7Haslam Park Primary School£7,656
- #8Cherry Tree Primary School£7,635
- #9St Columba's RC Primary School£7,450
- #10Claypool Primary School£7,448
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)