Great Harwood St John's Church of England Primary School

Voluntary aided school·Primary school Blackburn, Lancashire·BB6 7ES
Composite score
35.6
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#12,255
National rank
#1829
In North West
#364
In Lancashire
Top 83%
Nationally

Performance (KS2 SATs)

% meeting expected RWM
44%
% achieving higher RWM
6%
Reading average scaled score
101.0
National avg ≈ 105
Maths average scaled score
101.0
National avg ≈ 104
Reading progress
—
Maths progress
—

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Early years provision
Outstanding

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
22 first choices, 24 places
First choices per place
0.92
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
59
any preference, for 24 places
Applications from another council area
2%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.36
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9420220.9620231.0020241.2820250.922026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put Great Harwood St John's Church of England Primary School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
5–11
Pupils on roll
162
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Church of England

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
45.1%
Typical primary: 21.5%
% EAL
33.3%
Typical primary: 9.6%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
11.7%
Typical primary: 14.3%
% with an EHC plan
3.7%
Typical primary: 3.0%

Attendance

Overall absence
5.7%
Typical primary: 5.3%
Persistently absent
17.0%
Typical primary: 13.3%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
21.0
Typical primary: 20.7
Spend per pupil
£7,171
Typical primary: £6,960

“Typical” = the median primary school in England. What this means

Nearby primary schools

Location

Great Harwood St John's Church of England Primary School at a glance

Located in Blackburn, Lancashire, Great Harwood St John's Church of England Primary School is a primary school, classified by the DfE as a voluntary aided school with a Church of England religious character. The school educates roughly 162 pupils aged 5 to 11. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' at its most recent inspection. 44% of its pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, well below the national average (national figure: 61%). The proportion reaching the expected standard has fallen by 1.0 percentage points compared with the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of primary schools nationally.

Pupils achieved an average scaled score of 101 in reading and 101 in maths (national averages are about 105 and 104). 6% reached the higher standard across all three subjects (around 8% do so nationally). Getting a place is straightforward: for the September 2026 intake every family who made Great Harwood St John's Church of England Primary School their first choice was offered one of its 24 Reception places. Overall pupil absence was 5.7%. There are about 21.0 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 45% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. When you visit, you might ask how the school stretches its higher-attaining pupils and supports those who need to catch up. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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