Northern Primary School
Burnley Road, Bacup, OL13 8PH
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 5 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Anna Ewens
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 210
- Pupils on roll
- 161
- URN
- 119190
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01706874154
About this school
Northern Primary School is a community primary school in Bacup. It teaches children aged 5 to 11 and has 161 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Confirmed by a short inspection, not a full one
Ofsted's most recent visit was a short inspection on 21 February 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Good. The school's last full inspection took place before September 2019, so its area grades are not part of Ofsted's current published data. Older reports are on the school's Ofsted page.
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 27 | 29 | 26 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 48% | 66% | 50% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 7% | 10% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 74% | 83% | 65% |
| Expected standard in maths | 56% | 72% | 65% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 59% | 72% | 69% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 106.0 | 103.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 102.0 | 103.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.40 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Northern Primary School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Lancashire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 48% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 66% | 58.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 50% | 58.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 183 |
| 2023/24 | 178 |
| 2024/25 | 165 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Northern Primary School compares
Northern Primary School ranked 344th of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 21% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50% | 4% | 18.8% | 161 | — |
| Bacup Thorn Primary School | 61% | 4.5% | 40.5% | 253 | 0.7 miles |
| Sharneyford Primary School | 30% | 6.5% | 15.9% | 63 | 0.8 miles |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 15% | 7.9% | 76.2% | 94 | 1.2 miles |
| Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School | 64% | 4.7% | 35.5% | 88 | 1.7 miles |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup | 50% | 6.5% | 60.7% | 125 | 1.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 18.79%
- English as an additional language
- 4.8%
- Overall absence
- 4%
- Persistent absence
- 7.69%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bacup Thorn Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Sharneyford Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy1.2 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School1.7 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup1.8 miles
Primary · Bacup
Other schools in Bacup
Northern Primary School ranks 4th of the 8 ranked primary schools in Bacup.
- Bacup Holy Trinity Stacksteads Church of England Primary School Primary
- Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School Primary
- Bacup Thorn Primary School Primary
- Britannia Community Primary School Primary
- Sharneyford Primary School Primary
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup Primary
- St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Primary
- Bacup Nursery School Nursery
- The Valley Leadership Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Northern Primary School teach?
- Northern Primary School teaches children aged 5 to 11. It is a primary school in Bacup.
- Who is the headteacher of Northern Primary School?
- The headteacher of Northern Primary School is Mrs Anna Ewens, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Northern Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Northern Primary School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Northern Primary School?
- Northern Primary School has 161 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 5 to 11.
- Is Northern Primary School full?
- Northern Primary School has capacity for 210 pupils and 161 on roll (77%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Northern Primary School a faith school?
- No. Northern Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Northern Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Northern Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Northern Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 48% in 2022/23 and 50% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Northern Primary School rank locally?
- Northern Primary School ranked 344th of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 21% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 83% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Northern Primary School's absence rate?
- Northern Primary School's overall absence rate is 4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Northern Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Northern Primary School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.