Pendle Community High School & College
Oxford Road, Nelson, BB9 8LF
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Ms Debra Grogan
- SEN provision
- VI - Visual Impairment, HI - Hearing Impairment, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment, PD - Physical Disability, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty, PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Pendle and Clitheroe
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 136
- Pupils on roll
- 166
- URN
- 135015
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01282682260
About this school
Pendle Community High School & College is a community special school in Nelson. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 166 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 March 2024, where inspectors confirmed the school remains Outstanding. 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 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 25 | 25 | 27 |
| Attainment 8 score | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.56 -2.13 to -1.00 | -1.69 -2.31 to -1.07 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
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 Pendle Community High School & College 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 | 0.4 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 0.6 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 0.9 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.8% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.7% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 162 |
| 2023/24 | 162 |
| 2024/25 | 163 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 56.78%
- English as an additional language
- 30.1%
- Overall absence
- 9.74%
- Persistent absence
- 34.45%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Pendle View Primary School0.2 miles
Special schools · Colne
-
Edenfield Girls' High School1.0 miles
Independent schools
-
The Nook School1.0 miles
Special schools
-
Al-Ikhlaas Primary School1.1 miles
Independent schools · Nelson
-
Grow Independent School1.2 miles
Special schools · Barrowford
Other schools in Nelson
- Bradley Nursery School Nursery
- McMillan Nursery School Nursery
- Walton Lane Nursery School Nursery
- Woodfield Nursery School Nursery
- Barrowford School Primary
- Barrowford St Thomas Church of England Primary School Primary
- Blacko Primary School Primary
- Bradley Primary School Primary
- Castercliff Primary School Primary
- Great Marsden St John's Primary School A Church of England Academy Primary
- Holy Saviour Roman Catholic Primary School, Nelson Primary
- Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Pendle Community High School & College teach?
- Pendle Community High School & College teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a special school in Nelson.
- Who is the headteacher of Pendle Community High School & College?
- The headteacher of Pendle Community High School & College is Ms Debra Grogan, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Pendle Community High School & College last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Pendle Community High School & College, 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 Pendle Community High School & College?
- Pendle Community High School & College has 166 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Pendle Community High School & College full?
- Pendle Community High School & College has capacity for 136 pupils and 166 on roll (122%), so it is at or above 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 Pendle Community High School & College a faith school?
- No. Pendle Community High School & College has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does Pendle Community High School & College have?
- The schools register lists Pendle Community High School & College's special educational needs provision as: VI - Visual Impairment; HI - Hearing Impairment; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment; PD - Physical Disability; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty; PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Pendle Community High School & College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 0.4 in 2022/23 and 0.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is Pendle Community High School & College's absence rate?
- Pendle Community High School & College's overall absence rate is 9.7% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Pendle Community High School & College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Pendle Community High School & College'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 1 July 2026.