Bacup Thorn Primary School
Cowtoot Lane, Bacup, OL13 8EF
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Alison Edgar
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 276
- Pupils on roll
- 253
- URN
- 119193
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01706874027
About this school
Bacup Thorn Primary School is a community primary school in Bacup. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 253 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 45 | 32 | 46 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 60% | 53% | 61% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 11% | 3% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 78% | 63% | 76% |
| Expected standard in maths | 73% | 69% | 85% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 78% | 66% | 80% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 104.0 | 103.0 | 106.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 |
| Reading progress | -0.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.60 | - | - |
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 Bacup Thorn 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 | 60% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 53% | 58.3% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 61% | 58.8% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 4.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 4.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 282 |
| 2023/24 | 275 |
| 2024/25 | 274 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Bacup Thorn Primary School compares
Bacup Thorn Primary School ranked 242nd of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 43% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 71% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 61% | 4.5% | 40.5% | 253 | — |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 15% | 7.9% | 76.2% | 94 | 0.5 miles |
| Northern Primary School | 50% | 4% | 18.8% | 161 | 0.7 miles |
| Sharneyford Primary School | 30% | 6.5% | 15.9% | 63 | 0.9 miles |
| Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School | 64% | 4.7% | 35.5% | 88 | 1.0 miles |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup | 50% | 6.5% | 60.7% | 125 | 1.2 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)
- 40.51%
- English as an additional language
- 2.6%
- Overall absence
- 4.51%
- Persistent absence
- 7.97%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy0.5 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Northern Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Sharneyford Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School1.0 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup1.2 miles
Primary · Bacup
Other schools in Bacup
Bacup Thorn Primary School ranks 3rd 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
- Britannia Community Primary School Primary
- Northern 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 Bacup Thorn Primary School teach?
- Bacup Thorn Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Bacup.
- Who is the headteacher of Bacup Thorn Primary School?
- The headteacher of Bacup Thorn Primary School is Mrs Alison Edgar, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Bacup Thorn Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Bacup Thorn 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 Bacup Thorn Primary School?
- Bacup Thorn Primary School has 253 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Bacup Thorn Primary School full?
- Bacup Thorn Primary School has capacity for 276 pupils and 253 on roll (92%), 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 Bacup Thorn Primary School a faith school?
- No. Bacup Thorn Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Bacup Thorn Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Bacup Thorn Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Bacup Thorn Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 60% in 2022/23 and 61% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Bacup Thorn Primary School rank locally?
- Bacup Thorn Primary School ranked 242nd of 445 primary schools in Lancashire for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 43% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 71% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Bacup Thorn Primary School's absence rate?
- Bacup Thorn Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.5% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Bacup Thorn Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Bacup Thorn 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.