Rawtenstall St Paul's Church of England Primary School

About Rawtenstall St Paul's Church of England Primary School

Rawtenstall St Paul's Church of England Primary School holds a Good rating from Ofsted following its most recent graded inspection in 2012, and an ungraded inspection in 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. The most telling exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which stands at 50%. That figure is ten percentage points below the Lancashire local authority average of 60%, placing the school 23rd out of 31 primary schools in Rossendale and in the bottom half nationally. The school's reading scores are a relative strength, with 67% of pupils reaching the expected standard and an average scaled score of 105, compared with 100 in maths. However, only 10% of pupils achieved the higher standard across all three subjects, and maths performance is notably weaker, with just 17% reaching the higher threshold. The school has made clear progress since its previous inspection in 2010, when it was rated Requires Improvement overall and early years provision was judged inadequate.

In the 2023/24 academic year, 64% of pupils met the expected standard in writing and 50% in maths, while reading remained the strongest area at 67% expected and 33% at the higher level. The school's Progress 8 scores are not available, so it is not possible to measure how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. The school ranks 331st out of 480 primary schools in Lancashire, placing it in the bottom third of the local authority. For context, the nearest Outstanding-rated primary is St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Haslingden, 2.1 kilometres away. The school's overall effectiveness and leadership and management were both rated Good in the 2012 graded inspection, and the 2023 ungraded visit found no reason to change that judgement. The school does not have a sixth form or nursery provision, and serves children from age 4 to 11.

The school is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 academic year, with 84 applications for 33 places and 30 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.55. Facilities include a sports hall, music rooms, a sensory room, an outdoor playground, an ICT suite and a chapel. Sports offered include cricket, rounders, cross country, dance and athletics, while clubs range from chess and book club to choir, art club, coding and film club. The school has a Church of England religious character and provides for a range of special educational needs, including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, hearing impairment and other difficulties. With 13.6% of pupils eligible for free school meals, slightly below the national average, and a capacity of 295 with 280 pupils on roll, this is a school that suits families who value a strong reading curriculum and a broad range of extracurricular activities, but who may want to investigate maths support further.

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