Bowness Primary School
Academy sponsor led in Bolton, BL3 1BT, taking ages 3 to 11, 129 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 2.92 miles Bolton published for latest published year, as the checker measures.
Opened on this device and kept on it only: just their postcodes are sent, to this site, to measure them.
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Will an address get in?
In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 2.92 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.
How this compares: every Bolton school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 2.92 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.
Bowness Primary School: 2.92 miles Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School: 0.99 miles, published by Bolton
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Bowness Primary School is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.
Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.
Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary. The labels on the map are postcode districts whose centre falls inside both circles; each opens the district's guide.
The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.
Source: Bolton, published admission distances
Where Bowness Primary School and Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School admitted from 0.99 miles in the latest published year, published by Bolton. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside both published distances, cheapest first by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is BL11 at £205,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.
| District | Area | From Bowness Primary School | From Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BL11 | Bolton | 1.9 mi | 0.5 mi | £205,000 10 sales |
Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Distances measured from each district's centre to each school's point on the Department for Education register.
Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.
Drop Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Bolton, 63 of 290 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (21.7%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.
Other schools nearby with a published distance
The closest schools to Bowness Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Lever School Both in reach | Secondary | 2.7 mi | 0.0 mi |
| All Saints CofE Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.46 mi | 0.8 mi |
| Blackshaw Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.84 mi | 0.9 mi |
| Harper Green School Both in reach | Secondary | 2.5 mi | 1.4 mi |
| Kearsley West Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.53 mi | 1.4 mi |
| Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.99 mi | 1.7 mi |
The distance as a picture
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 129 pupils in 156 places (83% full) |
| Trust | PRESTOLEE MULTI ACADEMY TRUST |
| Local authority | Bolton |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 25 September 2023. Ungraded inspection, September 2023: school remains Good |
| Meeting the expected standard | 86.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 86.0% |
| 2023/24 | 68.0% |
| 2022/23 | 56.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Bowness Primary School
| Girls and boys | 61.2% girls, 38.8% boys |
| English as an additional language | 15.5% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 40.3% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
What it costs to live within reach of Bowness Primary School
Cheapest district inside the 2.92 miles: M26, median £135,000. Dearest: BL11, £205,000.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| M26 | Bury | 2.0 mi | £135,000 105 sales |
| BL4 | Bolton | 1.3 mi | £140,000 75 sales |
| BL3 | Bolton | 2.0 mi | £140,000 42 sales |
| BL78 | Bolton | 1.1 mi | £148,000 79 sales |
| M38 | Salford | 2.6 mi | £160,000 72 sales |
| BL2 | Bolton | 1.9 mi | £182,000 84 sales |
| BL11 | Bolton | 1.9 mi | £205,000 10 sales |
How to read this
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 2.92 miles the school admitted from in the latest published year, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.
How this compares across England: what a tight gate costs, school by school.
Source: HM Land Registry sold prices, via each district's area guide
Getting to Bowness Primary School by bus
Best-served stop: Redcar Road, 0.2 mi away, with 6.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 05:10, last 23:57.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Lever High School | 62 yd | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 916 |
| Little Lever High School | 80 yd | 6.2 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 524, 521, 916, 910, 923, 938 |
| Little Lever High School | 105 yd | 6.0 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 524, 521, 910, 923, 938 |
These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.
Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing Bowness Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around BL3: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at BL3 1BT, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for Bowness Primary School?
Bowness Primary School does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in the latest published year lived 2.92 miles away, per Bolton.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Bowness Primary School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 2.92 miles was enough in the latest published year. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.
Does buying a house near Bowness Primary School guarantee a place?
No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.
Every Bolton school's distance
All Bolton schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Put Bowness Primary School's figure on your own site
A small badge with the published distance that links back here, for a school website, parents' group or forum.
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Admission distance published by Bolton. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.