Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

About Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School sits well below the Lancashire local authority average for Key Stage 2 outcomes, a gap that is hard to ignore when comparing its headline metrics. In the 2023/24 academic year, just 27% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, against a county average of 60%. That places the school 407th out of 480 primary schools in Lancashire, and in the bottom 50 nationally by this measure. The school’s rank within Burnley itself is 27th out of 28, putting it in the 96th percentile of the local area — meaning only one school in the borough performs lower. For context, the top-performing local school, Crawford Village Primary, scores a perfect 100 on the same ranking metric. The picture is not uniformly bleak: maths and reading average scores both sit at 103, which is around the national expectation, and 53% of pupils reached the expected level in maths individually. But the combined figure tells a starker story, and parents comparing options will want to understand why the school’s overall attainment lags so far behind its peers.

Ofsted has rated the school Good overall, a notable improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2014. The most recent graded inspection, in 2016, gave Good marks for both leadership and management and overall effectiveness, and an ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed the school remains Good. Early years provision was also judged Good. The progress scores for reading, writing and maths are not available in the data, which makes it harder to assess whether pupils are catching up from lower starting points. What is clear is that the proportion reaching the higher standard is very low: just 17% in reading, 13% in maths, and only 3% in writing. With 39.6% of pupils eligible for free school meals — nearly double the national average — the school serves a significantly disadvantaged community, and its results should be read in that context. The school does not have a sixth form or nursery provision, and its age range is strictly 4 to 11.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 67 applications for just 15 places, a ratio of 4.47 to one, and all 15 first-preference offers were taken up. That level of demand suggests strong local reputation despite the attainment figures. Facilities include a library, playing fields, a sensory room, gymnasium, sports hall and chapel, and the school offers a broad range of clubs from gardening and film club to science and book club. Sports provision covers athletics, rounders, cross country, football, netball and cricket. SEND support is well-documented, covering moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication, hearing impairment, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. For families who value a Church of England ethos, strong community ties and a school that invests in pastoral and SEND infrastructure, Burnley St Stephen’s may be a good fit — though those prioritising academic outcomes will want to weigh the data carefully.

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