Lower Darwen Primary School
Primary · Darwen · BB3 0RB
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 21 March 2023
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
382 pupils · 91% of 420 capacity
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 4–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Free school meals
- 20.4% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 7.7% of pupils
- SEN support
- 15.7% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 4.4% of pupils
- Website
- www.lowerdarwenprimary.co.uk
- URN
- 119120
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
0.82 first-choice applications per place44 places offered · 36 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
59 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.
Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)
Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
85% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 15% left the state-funded sector
School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Spending per pupil
Total expenditure ÷ pupils, council-maintained school finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history since 2015
- 21 March 2023: Good
- 24 January 2018: School remains Good
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.
Nearby schools
- Darwen Vale High School
- St James' Church of England Primary School
- Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn
- St Edward's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy
- Longshaw Infant School
- Blackburn the Redeemer CofE Primary
- Longshaw Nursery School
- St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School