St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup
Huttock End Lane, Stacksteads, Bacup, OL13 8LD
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Voluntary aided school
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Headteacher
- Mrs Michelle Scott
- Diocese
- Diocese of Salford
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 145
- Pupils on roll
- 125
- URN
- 119661
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01706873177
About this school
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup is a Roman Catholic voluntary aided primary school in Bacup. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 125 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Early years
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 20 | 21 | 16 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 25% | 14% | 50% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 5% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 50% | 52% | 50% |
| Expected standard in maths | 40% | 43% | 56% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 45% | 52% | 38% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 101.0 | 102.0 | 97.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 99.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Reading progress | -1.80 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -7.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -5.10 | - | - |
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 St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup 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 | 25% | 58.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 14% | 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 | 6.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 113 |
| 2023/24 | 120 |
| 2024/25 | 132 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup compares
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup ranked 347th 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 30% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50% | 6.5% | 60.7% | 125 | — |
| Bacup Holy Trinity Stacksteads Church of England Primary School | 37% | 5.4% | 35.9% | 221 | 0.1 miles |
| Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School | 64% | 4.7% | 35.5% | 88 | 0.9 miles |
| Waterfoot Primary School | 73% | 5% | 20.7% | 296 | 1.1 miles |
| Bacup Thorn Primary School | 61% | 4.5% | 40.5% | 253 | 1.2 miles |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 15% | 7.9% | 76.2% | 94 | 1.3 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.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report28 April 2026
- 5 April 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 60.66%
- English as an additional language
- 6.1%
- Overall absence
- 6.52%
- Persistent absence
- 18.97%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Bacup Holy Trinity Stacksteads Church of England Primary School0.1 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
Waterfoot Primary School1.1 miles
Primary · Rossendale
-
Bacup Thorn Primary School1.2 miles
Primary · Bacup
-
St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy1.3 miles
Primary · Bacup
Other schools in Bacup
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup ranks 5th 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
- Northern Primary School Primary
- Sharneyford Primary School Primary
- St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Primary
- Bacup Nursery School Nursery
- The Valley Leadership Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup teach?
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Bacup.
- Who is the headteacher of St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup?
- The headteacher of St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup is Mrs Michelle Scott, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup?
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup has 125 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup full?
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup has capacity for 145 pupils and 125 on roll (86%), 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 St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup a faith school?
- Yes. St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup is designated Roman Catholic, in the Diocese of Salford.
- Does St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup as having nursery classes.
- How have St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 25% 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 St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup compare with other schools in Lancashire?
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup ranked 347th 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 30% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup's absence rate?
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup's overall absence rate is 6.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup'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 15 July 2026.