Appleton Thorn Primary School
Appleton Thorn, WA4 4RW · Warrington local authority
Appleton Thorn’s School Grade A better than 93% of towns in England
What stands out about Appleton Thorn Primary School
- Its own letter, B: Key Stage 2 results better than 57% of England’s primary schools
- 13% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (fewer than England’s 25%)
- Ofsted: Inspected, April 2025 (shown, not graded)
- 78% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (25 of 32)
- Homes in its postcode sector (WA4 4) sold for a median £464,995; Appleton Thorn’s is £413,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 65%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 57% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Warrington avg 68%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 108, maths 108 (100 = the expected standard)
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Appleton Thorn Primary School?
78% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (1), 2023 (6), 2024 (4), 2025 (6), 2026 (7). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. The Challenge Academy Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Warrington council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
78% got their first choice
Appleton Thorn and Warrington, side by side
2023–2025All 62 graded primaries in Warrington. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Appleton Thorn’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruche Academy | A+ | 18% | 98% |
| Evelyn Street Primary Academy and Nursery | A+ | 27% | 92% |
| Stretton St Matthew's CofE Primary School | A+ | 9% | 89% |
| Chapelford Village Primary School | A+ | 16% | 88% |
| Grappenhall Heys Community Primary School | A+ | 7% | 87% |
| Statham Primary School | A+ | 22% | 83% |
| Woolston CofE Aided Primary School | A | 19% | 82% |
| St Peter's Catholic Primary School | A | 11% | 80% |
| Great Sankey Primary School | A | 11% | 80% |
| Ravenbank Primary School | A | 9% | 79% |
| Barrow Hall Community Primary School | A | 6% | 78% |
| Alderman Bolton Primary School | A | 50% | 78% |
| Culcheth Community Primary School | A | 20% | 78% |
| Park Road Community Primary School | A | 9% | 77% |
| Penketh Primary School | A | 10% | 76% |
| Sankey Valley St James Church of England Primary School | A− | 39% | 75% |
| St Helen's Church of England Primary School | A− | 20% | 75% |
| St Monica's Catholic Primary School | A− | 14% | 74% |
| Burtonwood Community Primary School | A− | 19% | 74% |
| Cherry Tree School | A− | 13% | 73% |
| Twiss Green Community Primary School | A− | 10% | 73% |
| Gorse Covert Primary School | A− | 25% | 73% |
| St Thomas' CofE Primary School | A− | 11% | 72% |
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary School | A− | 6% | 71% |
| Christ Church CofE Primary School Padgate | B+ | 25% | 70% |
| St Lewis Catholic Primary School | B+ | 19% | 70% |
| Croft Primary School | B+ | 10% | 70% |
| St Stephen's Catholic Primary School | B+ | 43% | 69% |
| Stockton Heath Primary School | B+ | 13% | 68% |
| St Margaret's Church of England Primary School | B+ | 33% | 68% |
| Grappenhall St Wilfrid's CofE Primary School | B | 6% | 67% |
| St Oswald's Catholic Primary School | B | 22% | 66% |
| Callands Primary Academy | B | 23% | 66% |
| Cinnamon Brow Church of England Primary School | B | 41% | 66% |
| Thelwall Community Junior School | B | 13% | 65% |
| St Augustine's Catholic Primary School | B | 49% | 65% |
| St Bridget's Catholic Primary School | B | 56% | 65% |
| Beamont Primary School | B | 45% | 65% |
| Broomfields Junior School | B | 25% | 65% |
| Appleton Thorn Primary School | B | 13% | 65% |
| Dallam Community Primary School | B | 57% | 65% |
| Bewsey Lodge Academy | B | 53% | 65% |
| Glazebury Church of England Primary School | B− | 12% | 63% |
| Oughtrington Primary School | B− | 13% | 63% |
| Locking Stumps Community Primary School | B− | 35% | 63% |
| Penketh South Community Primary School | B− | 11% | 62% |
| Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School | C+ | 19% | 60% |
| Newchurch Community Primary School | C+ | 19% | 59% |
| St Benedict's Catholic Primary School | C+ | 31% | 59% |
| Birchwood CofE Primary School | C+ | 56% | 58% |
| St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary School | C+ | 28% | 58% |
| St Vincent's Catholic Primary School | C | 18% | 56% |
| Woolston Community Primary School | C | 22% | 55% |
| Bradshaw Primary School | C | 21% | 55% |
| Brook Acre Community Primary School | C | 57% | 55% |
| Winwick CofE Primary School | C | 11% | 54% |
| Oakwood Avenue Community Primary School | C | 44% | 54% |
| St Alban's Catholic Primary School | C− | 27% | 53% |
| Latchford St James CofE Primary School | C− | 29% | 49% |
| Our Lady's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | C− | 29% | 49% |
| Westbrook Old Hall Primary School | D | 28% | 47% |
| Meadowside Community Primary and Nursery School | D− | 61% | 36% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025202 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Appleton Thorn Primary School’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), April 2025.
Living near Appleton Thorn Primary School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in WA4 4, the school’s postcode sector
Appleton Thorn property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in WA4 4 sell for a little over Appleton Thorn’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
3 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Appleton Thorn, WA4 4RW
Appleton Thorn Primary School: common questions
Is Appleton Thorn Primary School a good school?
By its published results, above average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 57% of England’s primary schools (its letter is B), with 65% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, April 2025.
How hard is it to get into Appleton Thorn Primary School?
For September 2026, 32 families put Appleton Thorn Primary School first and 25 of them were offered a place; 30 places were offered in all.
What is Appleton Thorn Primary School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (April 2025).
How much do houses cost near Appleton Thorn Primary School?
Homes in its postcode sector, WA4 4, sold for a median £464,995 over the 36 months to August 2026 (265 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Appleton Thorn’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.