A remarkable turnaround has seen a once-overlooked school become a first choice for families, with demand now forcing it to grow.
Bowness Primary School will increase its Published Admission Number (PAN) from 20 to 30 pupils per year group from September after filling all of its new reception places and nursery places.
The expansion comes after the school secured approval to increase its intake and follows a period of rising popularity under its new leadership team.
Headteacher Sophie Wright said: "The reaction was really positive for the school and the community.
"Staff were over the moon in school. The families, we had a really good turnout for our welcome meeting for our new nursery and reception children.
"So it was the busiest that it'd been because we have got the extra spaces and they are full."
It wasn't always this way for the school. In recent years, Ms Wright said it hadn't been "the school of choice".
Now, since work had been put into improving the promotion of the school, it's seeing results.
Ms Wright said: "Our success shows that even as a small school, we are doing big things, and we are excited about the opportunities this growth will bring for our pupils and wider community."
To support the larger intake, the school will expand its early years provision over the summer by extending the classroom into part of an existing hallway.
The work is designed to provide more space for children joining reception and nursery from September.
Ms Wright said: "We want the school to be a success, so we want it to be full.
"And because it's got a new leadership team, we thought we'd give it a go and it's actually worked out.
The school said it believes growing confidence among local families has contributed to the increase in applications.
Last year, Bowness achieved 100 per cent in reading, maths and spelling, punctuation and grammar SATs, while finishing third in Bolton for Key Stage Two results.
Ms Wright added: "We're really proud of the school and the staff and children and community here.
"We want to continue the success of Bowness and we want it to be the school of choice."
Share