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Higher Lane Primary School

Academy converter in Manchester, M45 7EX, taking ages 3 to 11, 491 on roll.

Report card Ofsted, Dec 2025
0.98 mi Admitted from, latest published year
117% Full, over capacity
62.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.98 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.

The circle is 0.98 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Higher Lane Primary School: 0.98 miles Heaton Park Primary School: 2.05 miles, published by Bury

This is not a catchment area. 0.98 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 Higher Lane 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: Bury, published admission distances

Where Higher Lane Primary School and Heaton Park Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Heaton Park Primary School admitted from 2.05 miles in the latest published year, published by Bury. 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 M45 at £223,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Higher Lane Primary SchoolFrom Heaton Park Primary SchoolMedian sold price
M45 Bury 0.2 mi 0.7 mi £223,000 103 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 Heaton Park Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Bury, 46 of 158 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (29.1%; 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 Higher Lane Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Philips High School Both in reach Secondary 4.38 mi 0.2 mi
All Saints Church of England Primary School, Stand Both in reach Primary 0.99 mi 0.8 mi
Heaton Park Primary School Both in reach Primary 2.05 mi 0.8 mi
Chapelfield Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.83 mi 1.0 mi
Unsworth Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.64 mi 1.0 mi
Sunny Bank Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.0 mi 1.2 mi

The distance as a picture

Higher Lane Primary School catchment area map: the 0.98 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

Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 491 pupils in 420 places (117% full, over capacity)
TrustVISION MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
Local authorityBury

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Report card, December 2025: 1 area strong or exceptional, 5 at the expected standard, 1 needing attention or urgent improvement
Report card
  • Safeguarding Met
  • Inclusion Expected standard
  • Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
  • Achievement Needs attention
  • Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
  • Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
  • Early years Expected standard
  • 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.
Meeting the expected standard 62.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 62.0%
2023/24 63.0%
2022/23 51.0%

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

Who goes to Higher Lane Primary School

Girls and boys48.5% girls, 51.5% boys
English as an additional language12.6% of pupils
Free school meals16.9% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Higher Lane Primary School

Cheapest district inside the 0.98 miles: M45, median £223,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
M45 Bury 0.2 mi £223,000 103 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 0.98 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 Higher Lane Primary School by bus

Best-served stop: Eagle & Child, 89 yd away, with 0.1 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:46, last 07:46.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Eagle & Child89 yd0.10.00.0895
Eagle & Child98 yd0.10.00.0895
Fountain Place0.1 mi0.10.00.0895

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 Higher Lane Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around M45: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at M45 7EX, 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 Higher Lane Primary School?

Higher Lane 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 0.98 miles away, per Bury.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Higher Lane Primary School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.98 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 117% 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 Higher Lane 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 Bury school's distance

All Bury schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →

Put Higher Lane 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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Higher Lane Primary School badge

Admission distance published by Bury. 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.