St James' Catholic Primary School Orrell
Primary · Voluntary aided school · Mixed · Wigan
St James Road, Wigan, WN5 7AA
87
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
100%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
96.6%
4.9% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
347
Capacity used
Has space86%
405 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Primary entry · official council applications and offers
100%
1st preference success rate
40 of 40 families who put it first got an offer
40
Places offered
103
Total applications
2.6
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 40 | 40 | ● 100% |
| 2nd preference | 36 | 0 | ● 0% |
| 3rd preference | 27 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 103 | 40 | 39% |
1st preference success by year
Wigan lets families list 3 preferences. 20 applications came from outside the council area (5 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Voluntary aided school
- Phase
- Primary
- Age range
- 4–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Gary Hayes
- Address
- St James Road, Orrell, Wigan, WN5 7AA
- Phone
- 01942748455
- Local authority
- Wigan
- Ward / constituency
- Orrell · Makerfield
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 106492
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 10% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 3% | — | — |
| SEN support | 16% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 1 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
347 pupils · 405 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 22
17 February 2022
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 329 pupils
Attendance
96.6%
Share of sessions attended · England 94.5%
Overall absence
3.4%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 5.5%
Persistent absence
4.9%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 14.6%
Severe absence
0.0%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
0.6%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
Primary results (Key Stage 2)
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expected standard in reading, writing & maths | 87% | — | — |
| Higher standard | 13% | — | — |
| Reading progress | — | — | 0.0 |
| Writing progress | — | — | 0.0 |
| Maths progress | — | — | 0.0 |
Primary results by subject (SATs)
Year 6 pupils meeting each standard, against England
Reading, writing & maths combined
Reading
Writing
Maths
Grammar, punctuation & spelling
Science
England average · Scaled scores run 80–120 (100 = expected standard).
Primary results over time
Expected standard (RWM) by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Expected standard (RWM) | 80% | 61% |
| Higher standard | 20% | 8% |
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Wigan council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Reception (primary) | 15 January | 16 April (or next working day) |
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.