Blackburn Primary School

About Blackburn Primary School

Blackburn Primary School is a popular choice among local families, with 14 applications for just 9 places in the 2025/26 admissions round, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.56. All nine first-preference applicants were offered a spot, which suggests that while the school is in demand, those who put it first stand a strong chance. The school is a state primary for mixed-gender pupils aged 5 to 11, located in Rotherham, and led by headteacher Robert Barr. It currently has 178 pupils on roll against a capacity of 235, so there is some room for growth. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, an ungraded visit in December 2022, confirmed that it remains Good, an improvement from its previous graded inspection in 2015 when it was rated Requires Improvement. The 2017 graded inspection awarded Good for overall effectiveness, leadership and management, and early years provision.

Academically, Blackburn Primary sits in the middle of the pack within Rotherham. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 59% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, just one point below the local authority average of 60%. This places the school 46th out of 84 primary schools in Rotherham, and in the bottom half nationally. Looking at individual subjects, writing was a relative strength with 89% of pupils meeting the expected standard, while maths (78%) and reading (70%) were more mixed. Only 7% of pupils reached the higher standard in each of reading, writing and maths, and the average scaled scores were 101 for reading and 103 for maths. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is difficult to say how much value the school adds from pupils’ starting points.

The school offers a solid range of facilities including a sports hall, playing fields, art studios, a sensory room and a chapel. Sports on offer include athletics, rounders, football and netball, and there are clubs such as book club, science club, art club and gardening. For families with children who have additional needs, Blackburn provides support for a wide range of SEND categories, including specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. The nearest Outstanding-rated primary school is Thorpe Hesley Primary School, 3.1 km away. Blackburn is a good fit for families seeking a well-regarded local school with a broad range of clubs and SEND support, particularly those who value a strong writing curriculum and a manageable class size.

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