Accrington St Mary Magdalen's Church of England Primary School

Primary · Accrington · BB5 1DW

Needs attention

Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)

The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.

Safeguarding: MetCurriculum & teaching: Needs attentionAchievement: Needs attentionAttendance & behaviour: Expected standardPersonal development: Expected standardInclusion: Needs attentionLeadership & governance: Needs attentionEarly years: Urgent improvementPost-16: Not applicable

Inspected 20 January 2026 · report published 26 March 2026

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

176 pupils · 84% of 210 capacity

School type: Voluntary aided school
Age range: 5–11
Gender: Mixed
Religious character: Church of England
Free school meals: 47.2% of pupils
English as additional language: 29.5% of pupils
SEN support: 17.4% of pupils
EHC plan: 2.6% of pupils
Website: www.st-marymagdalens.lancs.sch.uk/
URN: 119446

Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026

0.78 first-choice applications per place

27 places offered · 21 first-choice applications · usually has places

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20

20/21

21/22

22/23

23/24

24/25

25/26

26/27

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)

26 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025

Reaching the expected standard in reading, writing & maths

58%

England 62%

Reaching the higher standard

England 8%

Average scaled score (reading)

104

England 106

Average scaled score (maths)

102

England 105

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)

6.7%

England 6.5%

Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)

21.7%

England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher

23.5

England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

76% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 24% 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

This school£8,015

Typical primary school£6,960

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

20 January 2026: Needs attention (report card inspection)
12 October 2021: School remains Good (ungraded inspection)
2 March 2016: Good (graded inspection)

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

Nearby schools

Accrington AcademyNot yet graded · Secondary · 0.3 mi
Accrington St John with St Augustine Church of England Primary SchoolGood · Primary · 0.3 mi
Accrington St Christopher's Church of England High SchoolExpected standard · Secondary · 0.4 mi
Accrington Hyndburn Park Primary SchoolGood · Primary · 0.4 mi
Accrington Peel Park Primary SchoolNot yet graded · Primary · 0.6 mi
Accrington Benjamin Hargreaves Church of England Primary SchoolInadequate · Primary · 0.7 mi
St Nicholas Church of England Primary SchoolExpected standard · Primary · 0.7 mi
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, ChurchNot yet graded · Primary · 0.8 mi

See all primary schools in Accrington →