SF School Facts UK

Primary school in Millom, Cumberland

Black Combe Junior School

Moor Road, Millom, Cumbria, LA18 5DT

Ofsted Requires improvement · 2024
School website 01229772862
Ofsted Requires improvement July 2024
Met the expected standard 19% in the bottom 10% nationally
Pupils 89 65% full
Local deprivation 3/10 more deprived

Ofsted

Requires improvementas at 2 July 2024

Graded Requires improvement at its last graded inspection, on 2 July 2024.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

Current published outcome
Requires improvement
Last overall grade in this dataset
Requires improvement
Days since inspection
822 days
Framework era
Historic overall-grade framework (ended September 2024)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

Key stage 2 results 2024/25

Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths

19% England 60.7%

Reached the higher standard

0% England 8.1%

Average reading score

100 England 105.3

Average maths score

97 England 104.1

This year group had 18 pupils, so a single child moves the percentages above by about 5.6 points. Small cohorts move around a lot between years, so treat a single year's figures with care.

On the headline measure this school is in the bottom 10% of state-funded primaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

There are no progress measures for primary schools any more. They were calculated from a key stage 1 baseline, and statutory key stage 1 tests ended in 2023, so nothing has been published since. That makes attainment the only official measure — and attainment tracks intake closely, which is why the comparison against similar schools above is the more useful of the two lines.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
89
Places
136
How full
65% full — 89 of 136 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
42 / 47
Overall absence
7%

primary schools average 5.2%

Persistently absent
18%

primary schools average 12.8% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
33%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
0%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
7%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
15%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
0

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
8

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
5

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
0

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Millom Rail Station

0.5 km away — railway station

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

The area around the school

3/10 Deprivation decile

Among the more deprived half of England.

3/10 Child poverty decile

Among the more deprived half of England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£137,250

postcode sector LA18 5 · 104 sales

Typical range
£110,000 to £194,375

middle half of sales

Detached
£317,500
Semi-detached
£150,000
Terraced
£120,000

Homes around this school are among the cheapest tenth of England.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
23%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
23%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
9%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
20%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
44%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
69%

England 62.7%

Social housing
23%

England 17%

Privately rented
7%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
29%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
20%

England 22.5%

No car
21%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Copeland 008C and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Community school
Phase
Primary
Ages
Ages 7–11
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Catherine Dennison
Register status
Open
Local authority
Cumberland
Ward
Millom
Constituency
Barrow and Furness
URN
112160

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Nearest primary schools

SchoolOfstedExpected standardDistanceCompare
Millom Infant SchoolCommunity school Report card 2026 — 0.5 mi
St James' Catholic Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 63% 0.6 mi
Haverigg Primary SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 68% 0.9 mi
Askam Village SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 65% 3.4 mi
Thwaites SchoolCommunity school No overall grade 50% 3.5 mi
Ireleth St Peter's CofE Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2023 29% 3.8 mi
Burlington CofE SchoolVoluntary controlled school Good 2023 62% 4.4 mi
George Romney Junior SchoolCommunity school Outstanding 2024 55% 5.2 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 19%
Median of its 10 closest peers 49%
Cumberland average 54.2%
England average 60.7%

Percentage meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. This school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedExpected standardCompare
Murrow Primary AcademyAcademy sponsor led Wisbech Good 2022 75%
Marshland St James Primary and Nursery SchoolAcademy sponsor led Wisbech Good 2022 46%
Brenzett Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Romney Marsh No overall grade 44%
St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Primary School, Great HarwoodVoluntary aided school Great Harwood Good 2023 56%
Hallcroft Infant and Nursery SchoolCommunity school Retford Report card 2026 —
Holy Cross Church of England Primary SchoolAcademy sponsor led King's Lynn Good 2023 —
Foxhole Learning AcademyAcademy sponsor led St. Austell Good 2024 50%
Ramshaw Primary SchoolCommunity school Bishop Auckland Good 2024 64%
Ashton Vale Primary SchoolAcademy converter Bristol No overall grade 32%
Eureka Primary SchoolCommunity school Swadlincote Good 2023 19%
Marlfields Primary SchoolAcademy converter Congleton Requires improvement 2024 49%
Fiskerton Church of England Primary SchoolVoluntary controlled school Lincoln Good 2022 47%

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 112160; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 2 July 2024
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

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What does the latest inspection evidence say?

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How should I compare nearby schools?

Compare the same phase, cohort and academic year, then keep intake context and confidence intervals beside performance measures.

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