Ribblesdale School
Queens Road, Clitheroe, BB7 1EJ
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 4 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Anne-Marie Horrocks
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Pendle and Clitheroe
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,635
- Pupils on roll
- 1,437
- URN
- 119716
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01200422563
About this school
Ribblesdale School is a community all-through school in Clitheroe. It teaches children aged 4 to 16 and has 1,437 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 276 | 280 | 281 |
| Attainment 8 score | 41.7 | 43.2 | 43.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.34 -0.51 to -0.17 | -0.25 -0.42 to -0.08 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 32% | 41.4% | 38.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 59% | 61.4% | 66.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 17% | 17.1% | 21.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Ribblesdale 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 | 41.7 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43.2 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.5 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,408 |
| 2023/24 | 1,396 |
| 2024/25 | 1,410 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Ribblesdale School compares
Ribblesdale School ranked 45th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.5 | 7.5% | 16.4% | 1,437 | — |
| Ribblesdale Nursery School | — | — | 0% | 60 | 0.1 miles |
| St James' Church of England Primary School, Clitheroe | — | 4.2% | 18.4% | 262 | 0.2 miles |
| St Michael and St John's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | — | — | — | 133 | 0.2 miles |
| Clitheroe Brookside Primary School | — | 4.8% | 25.2% | 87 | 0.5 miles |
| Clitheroe Royal Grammar School | 74.4 | 4.8% | 11.9% | 1,496 | 0.5 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)
- 16.38%
- English as an additional language
- 1.8%
- Overall absence
- 7.46%
- Persistent absence
- 21.76%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Ribblesdale Nursery School0.1 miles
Nursery · Clitheroe
-
St James' Church of England Primary School, Clitheroe0.2 miles
Primary · Clitheroe
-
St Michael and St John's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy0.2 miles
Primary · Clitheroe
-
Clitheroe Brookside Primary School0.5 miles
Primary · Clitheroe
-
Clitheroe Royal Grammar School0.5 miles
Secondary · Clitheroe
Other schools in Clitheroe
- Ribblesdale Nursery School Nursery
- Barrow URC Primary School Primary
- Bolton by Bowland Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Chatburn Church of England Primary School Primary
- Clitheroe Brookside Primary School Primary
- Clitheroe Pendle Primary School Primary
- Edisford Primary School Primary
- Gisburn Primary School Primary
- Grindleton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Primary
- Slaidburn Brennands Endowed Primary School Primary
- St James' Church of England Primary School, Clitheroe Primary
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Hurst Green Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Ribblesdale School teach?
- Ribblesdale School teaches children aged 4 to 16. It is an all-through school in Clitheroe.
- Who is the headteacher of Ribblesdale School?
- The headteacher of Ribblesdale School is Mrs Anne-Marie Horrocks, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Ribblesdale School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Ribblesdale 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 Ribblesdale School?
- Ribblesdale School has 1,437 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 16.
- Is Ribblesdale School full?
- Ribblesdale School has capacity for 1,635 pupils and 1,437 on roll (88%), 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 Ribblesdale School a faith school?
- No. Ribblesdale School has no designated religious character.
- Is Ribblesdale School a selective school?
- No. Ribblesdale School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Ribblesdale School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Ribblesdale School as having no nursery classes.
- How have Ribblesdale School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 41.7 in 2022/23 and 43.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Ribblesdale School rank locally?
- Ribblesdale School ranked 45th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Ribblesdale School's absence rate?
- Ribblesdale School's overall absence rate is 7.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Ribblesdale School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Ribblesdale 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.