Tonacliffe Primary School

About Tonacliffe Primary School

Tonacliffe Primary School sits in the bottom half of Lancashire primary schools when it comes to the key measure of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. Just 43% of its Year 6 pupils hit that benchmark in the 2023/24 academic year, compared with a local authority average of 60%. That gap of 17 percentage points is significant and places the school 357th out of 480 primaries in Lancashire. The picture is a little more mixed when you look at individual subjects: 64% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, and 62% in reading, but maths lagged at 57%. On the higher standard, only 12% of pupils achieved that in maths, and none did so in reading, writing and maths combined. So while the school is not performing poorly across the board, the headline combined figure is notably below what most Lancashire primaries achieve.

Academically, the school's most recent Ofsted inspection in July 2024 rated it Good overall, with Good in every category including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and early years provision. That's a step down from its previous inspection in 2013, when it was judged Outstanding across the board. The average scores in the KS2 tests tell a more nuanced story: pupils scored 101 in maths and 104 in reading, both slightly above the national average of 100, but the proportion reaching the higher standard in reading was 31%, which is respectable. The school's Progress 8 data is not available, so it's hard to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils' starting points. In the Rossendale local authority ranking, Tonacliffe sits 25th out of 31 primaries, placing it in the bottom 20% locally.

Tonacliffe is a three-form entry primary with a nursery, and it was oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, receiving 80 applications for 41 places. Of those, 36 were first-preference applications, and all 36 were offered places, meaning the school is popular locally but not wildly oversubscribed. The school has a Forest School, art studios, a library and a chapel, and offers a decent range of sports including tennis, gymnastics, football, cricket and netball. Clubs include gardening, chess, science club, drama and choir. SEND provision is broad, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. With 15% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a mixed catchment. It would suit families who value a Good-rated school with strong SEND support and a broad extracurricular offer, but who are aware that its core academic results are below the Lancashire average.

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