Living in Widnes with children
Widnes, Halton and Knowsley. What the published figures say about its schools, its homes and daily life, each with its source and date. 59,938 people in 25,776 households; 29.2% of households have dependent children (Census 2021 (ONS, via NOMIS), summed over the town's output areas).
Schools
24 schools: 20 state primary, 3 state secondary, 1 sixth form or collegeWidnes on the schools map →Every school in Widnes, with inspection, league band and the last place offered
State primary schools (20)
| School | Inspection | League table | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moorfield Primary School | Good | Top 10% · 2nd in Halton | — |
| Lunts Heath Primary School | Outstanding | Top 10% · 3rd in Halton | 0.782 miles (2026) |
| St Bede's Catholic Junior School | Good | Top 25% · 5th in Halton | — |
| Cronton Church of England Primary Academy | Outstanding | Top 25% · 6th in Knowsley | — |
| Farnworth Church of England Controlled Primary School | Good | Top half · 9th in Halton | — |
| Fairfield Primary School | School remains Good | Top half · 10th in Halton | — |
| St Gerard's Catholic Primary and Nursery School | Ofsted report card | Top half · 11th in Halton | — |
| Holy Family Catholic Primary School & Nursery | School remains Good | Top half · 13th in Knowsley | — |
| St Michael with St Thomas CE Primary School | Good | Top half · 15th in Halton | — |
| St John Fisher Catholic Primary School | School remains Good | Top half · 16th in Halton | — |
| St Michaels Catholic Primary & Nursery School | Good | Top half · 17th in Halton | 1.061 miles (2026) |
| Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Catholic Primary School | Good | Lower half · 24th in Halton | — |
| St Basil's Catholic Primary School | Good | Lower half · 27th in Halton | — |
| All Saints Upton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | Good | Lower half · 31st in Halton | — |
| Widnes Academy | School remains Good | Lower half · 34th in Halton | — |
| Ditton Primary School | Good | Lower half · 38th in Halton | — |
| Kingsway Primary Academy School | Good | Lower half · 39th in Halton | — |
| Halebank CofE Primary School | Good | Lower half · 43rd in Halton | — |
| Oakfield Community Primary School | Ofsted report card | Lower half · 44th in Halton | — |
| St Bede's Catholic Infant School | Outstanding | — | — |
State secondary schools (3)
| School | Inspection | League table | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wade Deacon High School | Outstanding | Top half · 1st in Halton | 1.333 miles (2026) |
| Ormiston Chadwick Academy | Good | Lower half · 3rd in Halton | — |
| Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School | School remains Good | Lower half · 5th in Halton | 5.173 miles (2026) |
Sixth forms and colleges (1)
| School | Inspection | League table | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside College Halton | Outstanding | Top half · 1st in Halton | — |
Rank: the school's place among its council's schools of the same phase, from three years of DfE results (kinplace's league table, how it is worked out); schools with hidden or no results get none. Inspections: Ofsted and ISI. Last place offered: the council's offer-day figures. School register: DfE Get Information about Schools, updated 17 October 2026.
Homes and prices
Typical sale, last 12 months (Land Registry)The middle sale of each type, September 2025 to August 2026: half sold for more, half for less (139 detached, 190 semi-detached, 196 terraced, 31 flat or maisonette sales). Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, standard sales inside the ONS built-up area outline of Widnes. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Look up a home in Widnes →Getting around
Stops and stations (NaPTAN), and broadband (Ofcom)Source: DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes). Straight-line distances.
Gigabit broadband can be ordered at 92% of premises, and superfast (30 Mbit/s) at 96%, on average across the 1,344 postcodes in WA8. Check the postcode you are looking at: it can differ street by street.
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, July 2025, fixed broadband coverage by postcode (an average of postcodes, not of homes).
Safety and environment
The town centre; addresses varyChildcare
Ofsted early years register; published pricesWhat Ofsted found: 1 outstanding; 12 good, or expected standard. A typical nursery place in this region costs about £6.17 an hour for a two-year-old.
All of them: 13 in Halton.
Sources: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections; each nursery's own fees page, read by 16 October 2026; Coram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026: average nursery price for 50 hours a week after the working-parent entitlement (paying for 20 hours), by region.
Childcare costs near you →Key dates, Halton
The next dates for families applyingApplication deadlines and offer days: Halton · Knowsley.
Every date, and reminders →Nearby towns
Keep Widnes in your plan beside the other towns you are weighing up, and see each school here worked out for your address and your children.Add Widnes to your plan
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. How we know · All sources.