Bowker Vale Primary School

Community school·Primary school Manchester·M8 4NB
Composite score
43.2
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#9,849
National rank
#1432
In North West
#72
In Manchester
Top 66%
Nationally

Performance (KS2 SATs)

% meeting expected RWM
61%
% achieving higher RWM
3%
Reading average scaled score
103.0
National avg ≈ 105
Maths average scaled score
104.0
National avg ≈ 104
Reading progress
—
Maths progress
—

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
43 first choices, 45 places
First choices per place
0.96
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
84
any preference, for 45 places
Applications from another council area
17%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.03
00.511.5
1 per place
1.0020220.9820230.9820240.9820250.962026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Bowker Vale Primary School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
3–11
Pupils on roll
455
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
48.5%
Typical primary: 21.5%
% EAL
55.4%
Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
8.6%
Typical primary: 14.3%
% with an EHC plan
6.2%
Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence
7.2%
Typical primary: 5.3%
Persistently absent
23.6%
Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
19.1
Typical primary: 20.7
Spend per pupil
£7,851
Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Location

School overview

Bowker Vale Primary School is a primary school serving Manchester, classified by the DfE as a community school. It has 455 pupils aged 3 to 11 on roll. 61% of its pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, broadly in line with the national average (national figure: 61%). The proportion reaching the expected standard has risen by 14.0 percentage points year on year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of primary schools nationally.

Pupils achieved an average scaled score of 103 in reading and 104 in maths (national averages are about 105 and 104). 3% reached the higher standard across all three subjects (around 8% do so nationally). Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Bowker Vale Primary School their first choice was offered one of its 45 Reception places. Overall pupil absence was 7.2%. There are about 19.1 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 48% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. Bowker Vale Primary School does not currently have a recent graded Ofsted judgement on record (often the case for newer or recently converted schools), so it is worth asking when its next inspection is expected. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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