Blacklow Brow School

About Blacklow Brow School

Blacklow Brow School sits within Knowsley, a local authority where primary schools are a mixed bag, and this one has carved out a solid position for itself. Ranked 5th out of 47 primary schools in the borough, it sits in the top 25% nationally for the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Its closest rivals in the local rankings are Halewood Church of England Primary Academy, Halsnead Primary School and Malvern Primary School, all of which score slightly higher on the same metric. The school is led by headteacher Damian Kenny and caters for 232 pupils aged 3 to 11, with a nursery on site. It is a non-religious, mixed state primary, and its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2021 rated it Good overall, with a standout Outstanding grade for behaviour and attitudes. That judgement marked a significant turnaround from its previous inspection in 2015, when the school was rated Inadequate.

Academically, Blacklow Brow delivers results that comfortably exceed the local average. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 tests, 77% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, compared with the Knowsley average of 60%. The school also performs well at the higher standard, with 3% of pupils achieving that level across all three subjects. Subject-level scores are strong: 90% met expectations in maths, 83% in reading and 83% in writing. Average scaled scores sit at 104 for maths and 106 for reading, both above the national benchmark of 100. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points, but the raw outcomes place it comfortably among the better-performing primaries in the borough. Nationally, it ranks in the top 17% of all primary schools for its combined expected standard results.

Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school, with 98% of respondents to the Parent View survey saying they would recommend it. Responses show near-universal agreement that children are happy and feel safe, and that behaviour is well managed. The school has a strong set of facilities for a primary of its size, including a sports hall, art studios, a sensory room, playing fields and a forest school. It also offers a chapel on site. SEND provision is a clear focus, with support available for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, social and emotional mental health difficulties, hearing impairment and specific learning difficulties like dyslexia. The school is oversubscribed: for 30 places in the 2025/26 intake, it received 98 applications, with 43 first-preference requests and 28 offers made to first-preference families. That gives an oversubscription ratio of 3.27, so it is worth having it high on your list if you are in the catchment area.

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