← School guide Admissions

Little Lever School

Academy converter in Bolton, BL3 1BT, taking ages 11 to 16, 1,085 on roll.

Report card Ofsted, May 2026
2.7 mi Admitted from, latest published year
103% Full, over capacity
46.2 Attainment 8, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 2.7 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close 31 October 2026; offers on 1 March 2027.

The circle is 2.7 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Little Lever School: 2.7 miles Harper Green School: 2.5 miles, published by Bolton

This is not a catchment area. 2.7 miles was last year's outcome, not a boundary and not a promise.
How to read this

Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Little Lever 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 Little Lever School and Harper Green School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Harper Green School admitted from 2.5 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 BL4 at £140,000; the dearest shown, BL11, £205,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Little Lever SchoolFrom Harper Green SchoolMedian sold price
BL4 Bolton 1.3 mi 0.5 mi £140,000 75 sales
BL3 Bolton 2.0 mi 1.3 mi £140,000 42 sales
BL78 Bolton 1.0 mi 0.7 mi £148,000 79 sales
M38 Salford 2.6 mi 1.3 mi £160,000 72 sales
BL11 Bolton 1.9 mi 1.6 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 Harper Green 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 Little Lever School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Bowness Primary School Both in reach Primary 2.92 mi 0.0 mi
All Saints CofE Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.46 mi 0.7 mi
Blackshaw Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.84 mi 0.9 mi
Kearsley West Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.53 mi 1.3 mi
Harper Green School Both in reach Secondary 2.5 mi 1.4 mi
Bolton Parish Church, Church of England Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.99 mi 1.6 mi

The distance as a picture

Little Lever School catchment area map: the 2.7 mile admission distance and the postcode districts inside it
Drawn to scale from the published figure, with the districts whose centre falls inside. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

AdmissionsNon-selective
Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 1,085 pupils in 1,050 places (103% full, over capacity)
TrustLEVER ACADEMY TRUST
Local authorityBolton

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Report card, May 2026: 1 area strong or exceptional, 5 at the expected standard
Report card
  • Safeguarding Met
  • Inclusion Expected standard
  • Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
  • Achievement Expected standard
  • Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
  • Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
  • Early years Not applicable
  • Post-16 provision Not applicable
  • Leadership and governance Expected standard
Ofsted stopped giving schools a single overall grade in 2024; from November 2025 each area is judged on this five-point scale.
Attainment 8 46.2 (2024/25)
YearProgress 8
2024/25 not published
2023/24 +0.13
2022/23 +0.09

Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.

Who goes to Little Lever School

Girls and boys45.6% girls, 54.4% boys
English as an additional language7.5% of pupils
Free school meals29.5% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Where Little Lever School's Year 11 went next

Stayed for the sixth form0.0%
Sixth-form college27.1%
Further education college50.2%
Apprenticeship4.3%
Employment5.8%
No sustained destination recorded10.1%

DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.

What it costs to live within reach of Little Lever School

Cheapest district inside the 2.7 miles: M26, median £135,000. Dearest: BL11, £205,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian 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 1.0 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 2.7 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 Little Lever 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
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Little Lever High School49 yd0.10.00.0916
Little Lever High School82 yd6.02.22.9524, 521, 910, 923, 938
Little Lever High School121 yd6.22.52.9524, 521, 916, 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 Little Lever 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 Little Lever School?

Little Lever 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 2.7 miles away, per Bolton.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Little Lever School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 2.7 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 103% full the school has little slack. 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 Little Lever 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 Little Lever 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.

Show the badge and its code

Little Lever School badge

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.