Burnley High School
Byron Street, Burnley, BB12 6NX
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Emma Lewis
- Sponsor
- Education Partnership Trust
- Constituency
- Burnley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 600
- Pupils on roll
- 579
- URN
- 141028
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01282681950
About this school
Burnley High School is a secondary academy in Burnley. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 579 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 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
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 91 | 102 | 125 |
| Attainment 8 score | 38.0 | 42.1 | 38.6 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.64 -0.94 to -0.35 | -0.16 -0.44 to +0.12 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 32% | 38.2% | 29.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 53% | 55.9% | 52% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 45% | 45.1% | 46.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.5 |
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 Burnley High 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 | 38 | 38.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 42.1 | 37.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.6 | 37 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 570 |
| 2023/24 | 607 |
| 2024/25 | 607 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Burnley High School compares
Burnley High School ranked 64th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38.6 | 8% | 40.4% | 579 | — |
| Shuttleworth College | 39.5 | 12.2% | 46.4% | 1,072 | 0.3 miles |
| Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy | 37.6 | 10.2% | 35.8% | 1,261 | 2.6 miles |
| Unity College | 40.3 | 13% | 34.8% | 1,402 | 3.1 miles |
| Sir John Thursby Community College | 41 | 8.4% | 39.6% | 1,121 | 3.1 miles |
| Marsden Heights Community College | 40.3 | 7.9% | 33.5% | 1,047 | 3.6 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
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 40.36%
- English as an additional language
- 6.1%
- Overall absence
- 8.01%
- Persistent absence
- 23.56%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Shuttleworth College0.3 miles
Secondary · Burnley
-
Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy2.6 miles
Secondary · Burnley
-
Unity College3.1 miles
Secondary · Burnley
-
Sir John Thursby Community College3.1 miles
Secondary · Burnley
-
Marsden Heights Community College3.6 miles
Secondary · Nelson
Other schools in Burnley
Burnley High School ranks 4th of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Burnley.
- Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy Secondary
- Shuttleworth College Secondary
- Sir John Thursby Community College Secondary
- Unity College Secondary
- Basnett Street Nursery School Nursery
- Ightenhill Nursery School Nursery
- Reedley Hallows Nursery School Nursery
- Rockwood Nursery School Nursery
- Rosegrove Nursery School Nursery
- Stoneyholme Nursery School Nursery
- Taywood Nursery School Nursery
- Whitegate Nursery School Nursery
Common questions
- What year groups does Burnley High School teach?
- Burnley High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Burnley.
- Who is the headteacher of Burnley High School?
- The headteacher of Burnley High School is Ms Emma Lewis, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Burnley High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Burnley High 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 Burnley High School?
- Burnley High School has 579 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Burnley High School full?
- Burnley High School has capacity for 600 pupils and 579 on roll (97%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Burnley High School a faith school?
- No. Burnley High School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Burnley High School?
- Burnley High School is part of EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Burnley High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 38 in 2022/23 and 38.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Burnley High School rank locally?
- Burnley High School ranked 64th of 81 secondary schools in Lancashire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Burnley High School's absence rate?
- Burnley High School's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Burnley High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Burnley High 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 15 July 2026.