West Craven High School

Academy converter·Secondary school Barnoldswick, Lancashire·BB18 5TB
Composite score
46.8
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#2,820
National rank
#371
In North West
#68
In Lancashire
Top 89%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
37.4
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
34%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
52%
% EBacc grade 5+
5%
EBacc average points score
3.21

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Requires improvement
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
90 first choices, 100 places
First choices per place
0.90
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
159
any preference, for 100 places
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.06
00.511.5
1 per place
0.9520220.9620230.9520240.9620250.902026

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

Every child who put West Craven High 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
11–16
Pupils on roll
591
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
28.6%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
8.0%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
17.3%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.5%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
11.7%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
37.9%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
18.1
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,292
Typical secondary: £7,815

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

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
80%
127 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
71%
Apprenticeship
8%
Employment
1%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

About West Craven High School

West Craven High School is a secondary school in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. Around 591 pupils aged 11 to 16 attend the school. The school holds a 'Requires improvement' judgement from Ofsted. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 37.4, below the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 3.7 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

34% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 52% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. West Craven High School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 90 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 80% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 11.7%. There are about 18.1 pupils per teacher. If you are considering West Craven High School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. 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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