Baines' Endowed Church of England Primary Academy

About Baines' Endowed Church of England Primary Academy

Baines' Endowed Church of England Primary Academy sits in a difficult position within Blackpool's primary landscape. Its Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 academic year show that just 39% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, compared with a local authority average of 58%. That gap of 19 percentage points places the school 21st out of 23 primaries in the borough, putting it in the bottom 10% nationally. The picture is mixed when you look at individual subjects: 66% hit the expected level in reading and 56% in maths, but writing lagged at 50%. At the higher standard, the numbers are very thin — just 1% achieved greater depth in both reading, writing and maths combined, and only 10% managed it in maths. With 40.7% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a community with significant disadvantage, but the data suggests it is struggling to match the progress seen elsewhere in Blackpool.

The school's most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2024, rated it as Requires Improvement overall, a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2018. Inspectors judged the quality of education and leadership and management as requiring improvement, though they rated behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision as Good. The parent view, collected between September 2024 and September 2025 from 63 respondents, shows a divided community. While 88% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy, and 89% felt their child is safe, only 52% agreed that concerns are dealt with properly. Most strikingly, on SEND support, 42% of parents strongly disagreed that the school gives children with special educational needs the support they need, against 25% who strongly agreed. The school's own SEND provisions list covers a wide range of needs including autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language difficulties, and social and emotional mental health, but the parent feedback suggests delivery is a real concern.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, with 102 applications for 58 places and all first-preference applicants receiving offers. It has a nursery provision for children from age 2, and the main school runs from age 3 to 11. Facilities include a library, ICT suite, chapel, playing fields and an outdoor playground, with sports on offer including football, cricket, swimming and netball. Clubs cover drama, choir and gardening. The school is Church of England in character, though it does not have a formal religious ethos statement in its data. For families considering Baines' Endowed, the key question is whether the school's recent Ofsted downgrade and the mixed parent feedback on SEND and concerns handling are balanced by the fact that it remains popular enough to be oversubscribed. It may suit families who value the Good-rated early years provision and the range of SEND categories the school says it can support, but who are prepared to engage closely with the school on academic progress and communication.

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