St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Lowton
General Information
- Address: Cranham Avenue, Lowton, Warrington, WA3 2PQ – View on map
- Phone: 01942671528
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mrs S Leck
- Age range: 4-11 years
- Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 20 families put it first for 25 places – 8 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 8 · 2024 7 · 2025 8 · 2026 8
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: Roman Catholic
- Nursery provision: No
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 27
- % eligible for free school meals: 12.7%
- Pupil mix: 4 in 10 (similar to the Wigan average)
- English as an additional language: 12% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 8.5% a year (Wigan 12.9%, typical in England 13.9%)
- Where they went: about 33% moved to another school, 67% 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. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.
Behaviour
Awaiting Data
Across Wigan: suspensions by reason
- Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 4 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
- Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
- Suspensions for bullying: 2 (0.1 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 Wigan, 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: 5.2%
- Persistently absent pupils: 11.6%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 9.9%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 1.9%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Speech, language and communications needs: 8 pupils
- Social, emotional and mental health: 6 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 4 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 2 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
- Speech, language and communications needs: 1 pupil
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
Educational Attainment
Good 2023 report
Year 6 SATs results
- Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 73% (England 62%)
- Reached the higher standard: 3% (England 8%)
- Compared with the area: 7 percentage points above the Wigan average (66%)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: Above (3-year average 73% against an expected 67%)
- 3-year average (expected standard): 73%
- Expected standard by subject: Reading 83% · Writing 77% · Maths 87% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 87%
- Average test scores: reading 106, maths 107
- Based on: 30 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 28th of 97 junior and primary schools in the area
- =28Holy Family Catholic Primary School73%
- =28St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School73%
- =28St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Lowton73%
- =28St Patrick's Catholic Primary School73%
- =33Platt Bridge Community School72%
Click to see the full ranking
View full Ofsted inspection report
49th of 75 primary schools in Wigan for Ofsted rating
- #47St Bernadette's Catholic Primary SchoolGood
- #48St Catharine's CofE Primary SchoolGood
- #49St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, LowtonGood
- #50St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School WiganGood
- #51St David Haigh and Aspull CofE Primary SchoolGood
Click to see the full ranking
Financials
Spending per pupil: £5,827 (2024-25)
84th of 98 primary schools in Wigan for spending per pupil
- #82Mab's Cross Primary School£5,870
- #83Holy Family Catholic Academy£5,838
- #84St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Lowton£5,827
- #85R L Hughes Primary School£5,804
- #86Aspull Church Primary School£5,792
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)