Darwen Aldridge Community Academy
Sudell Road, Darwen, BB3 3HD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ALDRIDGE EDUCATION
- Principal
- Mr Allan Glover
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Aldridge Education
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,600
- Pupils on roll
- 1,036
- URN
- 135580
- Local authority
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01254819500
About this school
Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is a secondary academy in Darwen. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 1,036 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
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 210 | 208 | 191 |
| Attainment 8 score | 35.8 | 39.0 | 36.5 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.79 -0.99 to -0.60 | -0.77 -0.97 to -0.58 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 26% | 31.7% | 23.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 48% | 53.8% | 49.7% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 15% | 13.5% | 17.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.0 |
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 Darwen Aldridge Community Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Blackburn with Darwen average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 35.8 | 43.5 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39 | 43.4 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 36.5 | 44.5 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 11.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,106 |
| 2023/24 | 1,068 |
| 2024/25 | 1,065 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Darwen Aldridge Community Academy compares
Darwen Aldridge Community Academy ranked 11th of 12 secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 36.5 | 11.1% | 36.8% | 1,036 | — |
| Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio | 34.7 | 18.2% | 47.1% | 275 | 0.4 miles |
| Darwen Vale High School | 43.1 | 10.2% | 33.2% | 1,039 | 1.5 miles |
| Blackburn Central High School | 41 | 8% | 41% | 1,015 | 3.1 miles |
| St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn | 47.4 | 7.5% | 21% | 1,051 | 3.2 miles |
| Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy | 37.2 | 13.8% | 47.7% | 770 | 3.3 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 36.75%
- English as an additional language
- 16.7%
- Overall absence
- 11.13%
- Persistent absence
- 35.71%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio0.4 miles
Secondary · Darwen
-
Darwen Vale High School1.5 miles
Secondary · Darwen
-
Blackburn Central High School3.1 miles
Secondary · Blackburn
-
St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn3.2 miles
Secondary · Blackburn
-
Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy3.3 miles
Secondary · Blackburn
Other schools in Darwen
- Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio Secondary
- Darwen Vale High School Secondary
- Turncroft Nursery School Nursery
- Ashleigh Primary School Primary
- Avondale Primary School Primary
- Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary Primary
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Darwen, St Barnabas CofE Primary Academy Primary
- Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School Primary
- Holy Trinity VC School Primary
- Lower Darwen Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Darwen Aldridge Community Academy teach?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Darwen.
- Who is the principal of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy?
- The principal of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is Mr Allan Glover, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Darwen Aldridge Community Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, 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 Darwen Aldridge Community Academy?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy has 1,036 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Darwen Aldridge Community Academy full?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy has capacity for 1,600 pupils and 1,036 on roll (65%), 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 Darwen Aldridge Community Academy a faith school?
- No. Darwen Aldridge Community Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Darwen Aldridge Community Academy a selective school?
- No. Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Darwen Aldridge Community Academy?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is part of ALDRIDGE EDUCATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Darwen Aldridge Community Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 35.8 in 2022/23 and 36.5 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Darwen Aldridge Community Academy rank locally?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy ranked 11th of 12 secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 30% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Darwen Aldridge Community Academy's absence rate?
- Darwen Aldridge Community Academy's overall absence rate is 11.1% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Darwen Aldridge Community Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Darwen Aldridge Community Academy'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.