Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy
St James Crescent, Darwen, BB3 0EY
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Trust
- CIDARI EDUCATION LIMITED
- Headteacher
- Miss Laura Peckson
- Diocese
- Diocese of Blackburn
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Cidari Trust
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 265
- Pupils on roll
- 203
- URN
- 140891
- Local authority
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01254703260
About this school
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is a Church of England primary academy in Darwen. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 203 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
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
- Requires improvement
- 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 | 26 | 29 | 19 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 19% | 28% | 37% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 27% | 38% | 53% |
| Expected standard in maths | 38% | 34% | 63% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 31% | 48% | 42% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 98.0 | 98.0 | 99.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 96.0 | 96.0 | 100.0 |
| Reading progress | -8.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -7.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -7.60 | - | - |
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 Darwen St James CofE Primary 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 | 19% | 57.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 28% | 57.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 37% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 218 |
| 2023/24 | 208 |
| 2024/25 | 194 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy compares
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy ranked 49th of 51 primary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 21% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 37% | 7.5% | 54.6% | 203 | — |
| Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary | 64% | 7.9% | 45.6% | 167 | 0.4 miles |
| Holy Trinity VC School | 62% | 7% | 58.7% | 119 | 0.5 miles |
| Avondale Primary School | 72% | 4.2% | 27.9% | 400 | 0.7 miles |
| Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary School | 43% | 6.2% | 33.9% | 240 | 0.7 miles |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen | 70% | 5% | 16.8% | 165 | 0.9 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)
- 54.61%
- English as an additional language
- 30.4%
- Overall absence
- 7.48%
- Persistent absence
- 33.33%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary0.4 miles
Primary · Darwen
-
Holy Trinity VC School0.5 miles
Primary · Darwen
-
Avondale Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Darwen
-
Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary School0.7 miles
Primary · Darwen
-
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen0.9 miles
Primary · Darwen
Other schools in Darwen
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy ranks 13th of the 14 ranked primary schools in Darwen.
- Ashleigh Primary School Primary
- Avondale Primary School Primary
- Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary 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
- St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Edward's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy Primary
- St James' Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy teach?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Darwen.
- Who is the headteacher of Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy?
- The headteacher of Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is Miss Laura Peckson, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Darwen St James CofE Primary 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 St James CofE Primary Academy?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy has 203 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy full?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy has capacity for 265 pupils and 203 on roll (77%), 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 St James CofE Primary Academy a faith school?
- Yes. Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is designated Church of England, in the Diocese of Blackburn.
- Does Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is part of CIDARI EDUCATION LIMITED. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 19% in 2022/23 and 37% 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 St James CofE Primary Academy rank locally?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy ranked 49th of 51 primary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 10% of England primary 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 Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy's absence rate?
- Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy's overall absence rate is 7.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Darwen St James CofE Primary 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.