Primary school in Darwen, Blackburn with Darwen
Darwen, St Barnabas CofE Primary Academy
Knowlesly Road, Darwen, Lancashire, BB3 2JA
Ofsted
Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 29 March 2023.
Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.
Key stage 2 results 2024/25
Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Reached the higher standard
Average reading score
Average maths score
On the headline measure this school is around the middle 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 better-performing half.
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
- 207
- Places
- 210
- How full
- Nearly full — 207 of 210 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 105 / 102
- Overall absence
- 4%
- Persistently absent
- 6%
primary schools average 5.2%
primary schools average 12.8% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 10%
- English as an additional language
- 0%
- With an EHC plan
- 0%
- On SEN support
- 6%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Blackburn with Darwen 017E, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.
- Adults with a degree
- 38%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 12%
- Households owning their home
- 90%
- Households in social housing
- 1%
- Households with no car
- 9%
- Adults economically inactive
- 38%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Primary
- Ages
- Ages 4–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- CIDARI EDUCATION LIMITED
- Headteacher
- Head Teacher: Rebecca Ham
- Local authority
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Ward
- West Pennine
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- URN
- 141483
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Expected standard | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashleigh Primary SchoolFoundation school | Good 2023 | 66% | 0.4 mi |
| Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school | Good 2022 | 43% | 0.8 mi |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, DarwenVoluntary aided school | No grade | 70% | 0.9 mi |
| Darwen Aldridge Sudell PrimaryAcademy converter | No grade | 64% | 1.1 mi |
| Holy Trinity VC SchoolVoluntary controlled school | No grade | 62% | 1.2 mi |
| Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school | No grade | 41% | 1.5 mi |
| Darwen St James CofE Primary AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 37% | 1.5 mi |
| Avondale Primary SchoolCommunity school | Good 2023 | 72% | 1.8 mi |
Schools with a similar intake
State-funded primary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.
| School | Ofsted | Expected standard |
|---|---|---|
| Sherington Primary SchoolCommunity school | Good 2023 | 84% |
| Good Shepherd RC Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school | Outstanding 2024 | 100% |
| Kilmorie Primary SchoolCommunity school | Good 2024 | 66% |
| St Augustine's Catholic Primary School and NurseryVoluntary aided school | Good 2024 | 74% |
| Goodrich Community Primary SchoolCommunity school | No grade | 59% |
| Soho Parish CofE Primary SchoolVoluntary aided school | Good 2024 | 53% |
| Northbury Primary SchoolCommunity school | Good 2022 | 69% |
| Warren Junior SchoolCommunity school | Outstanding 2024 | 79% |
Where these figures come from
- School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
- Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25.
- Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
- Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
- Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.
All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.