Longshaw Infant School

About Longshaw Infant School

Longshaw Infant School is a state primary in Blackburn with Darwen, catering for children from age 4 to 7. In a local authority where only four of 56 primary schools hold an Outstanding rating from Ofsted, Longshaw sits firmly within the Good tier — a rating it has maintained across its two most recent inspections. The nearest Outstanding school, Blackburn the Redeemer CofE Primary, is just 0.6 km away, and the top-performing peers locally include The Olive School, Blackburn, alongside Blackburn the Redeemer and St Gabriel's Church of England Primary School. With 215 pupils on roll against a capacity of 270, the school is not yet at full capacity, yet it was oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake: 86 applications for 59 places, with 55 first-preference offers made. That oversubscription ratio of 1.46 suggests a solid local reputation, particularly given that 42.8 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals — well above the national average, indicating a community with significant socioeconomic need.

Academically, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection in September 2021 awarded Good across all five graded categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management. The previous inspection in 2014 had also rated overall effectiveness as Good, though early years provision was then graded as Requires Improvement — a gap that has since closed. As an infant school, Longshaw does not publish Key Stage 2 SATs results, since its pupils move on to junior school before that assessment point. The local authority average for Key Stage 2 attainment sits at 59, but this figure applies to the full primary phase rather than infant-only settings. Parents considering Longshaw should look to the school's feeder junior schools for later-stage academic data; the infant phase itself focuses on building foundational skills in reading, writing and maths within a structured, supportive environment.

The school offers a notably broad set of facilities for a primary, including a sensory room, art studios, music rooms, a sports hall, playing fields and even a chapel. Sports provision covers tennis, rounders, cross country, athletics, dance, netball and cricket, while clubs include coding, book club, choir and art club. SEND support is comprehensive, with provisions for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, profound and multiple learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech, language and communication needs, visual impairment and physical disability. There is no nursery provision and no sixth form, as expected for an infant school. This is a school that suits families looking for a well-resourced, inclusive start to primary education within a diverse, urban community — particularly those who value early-years specialist support and a wide range of enrichment activities from the outset.

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