Forwards Centre
Forwards Centre is an academy alternative provision converter in Bolton for boys and girls aged 5 to 11. It has 48 pupils and room for 64. About 79 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Stephens Street, Breightmet, Bolton, BL2 5DX01204 333660boltonimpacttrust.org.uk/our-academies/forwards-centreMrs Nicola Berry headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 3 June 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Bolton council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (32), language and communications needs (13), Moderate learning difficulty (2), Other difficulty or disability (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 48 | 41 | 40 | 30 | 27 | 19 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 79% | 81% | 70% | 63% | 67% | 53% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 2% | 0% | 3% | 7% | 11% | 11% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 29% | 23% | 20% | 26% | 42% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 71% | 75% | 73% | 74% | 58% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park School Teaching Service | Academy alternative provision converter | 40 m | 12 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Leverhulme Community Primary School | Council | 410 m | 438 | Report card 2026 | 4 | Compare |
| Breightmet School | Independent | 450 m | 18 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Red Lane Primary School | Academy | 690 m | 475 | No overall grade 2025 | 69 | Compare |
| SS Osmund and Andrew's R.C. Primary School | Roman Catholic | 0.6 miles | 355 | Good 2023 | 39 | Compare |
| Moorgate Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 325 | Outstanding 2023 | 86 | Compare |
| Bolton St Catherine's Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 1,003 | No overall grade 2025 | 10 | Compare |
| Firwood High School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 261 | Good 2023 | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Forwards Centre a good school?
Forwards Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in June 2025.
What is Forwards Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Forwards Centre not judged at its last full inspection on 3 June 2025.
How many pupils does Forwards Centre have?
48 pupils aged 5 to 11 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 64 places, so it is 75% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Stephens Street, Breightmet, Bolton, BL2 5DX
- Telephone
- 01204 333660
- Website
- www.boltonimpacttrust.org.uk/our-academies/forwards-centre
- Headteacher
- Mrs Nicola Berry
- Type of school
- Academy alternative provision converter (Academy alternative provision converter, academies)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Bolton Impact Trust (6 schools)
- Local authority
- Bolton
- Ward
- Breightmet
- Constituency
- Bolton North East
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2016 (academy converter)
- URN
- 142702 · LAESTAB 3501109 · UKPRN 10056139
- Formerly
- Forwards Centre
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.