Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy
About the school
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is an open primary school in Blackburn with Darwen.
Latest Ofsted inspection
Published Ofsted information, current as at 31 July 2026. Inspection outcomes are not performance rankings.
- Latest inspection
- 9 July 2025
- Published
- 15 September 2025
- Inspection type
- Schools into Special Measures Visit 3
- Latest outcome
- Not judged
Previous inspection framework
These judgements are retained by Ofsted from an earlier inspection framework.
Overall effectiveness
Not judged
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Requires improvement
Safeguarding
Yes
Early years
Good
Sixth form
Not applicable
Results and school context
Key Stage 2 results
Combined attainment
Reading, writing and maths expected standard
- School
- 37%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 63%
- England
- 62%
Reading, writing and maths higher standard
- School
- 0%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 6%
- England
- 8%
Subject attainment
Reading expected standard
- School
- 53%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 75%
- England
- 75%
Writing expected standard
- School
- 47%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 72%
- England
- 72%
Maths expected standard
- School
- 63%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 77%
- England
- 74%
Grammar, punctuation and spelling expected
- School
- 42%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 77%
- England
- 73%
Grammar, punctuation and spelling higher
- School
- 5%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 33%
- England
- 30%
Science expected standard
- School
- 63%
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 81%
- England
- 82%
Scaled scores
Reading average scaled score
- School
- 99
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 105
- England
- 106
Maths average scaled score
- School
- 100
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 105
- England
- 105
Grammar average scaled score
- School
- 99
- Blackburn with Darwen
- 106
- England
- 105
Pupil context and attendance
DfE context data for 2024/25. These characteristics provide context and are not quality ratings.
Pupils on roll
194
Girls
51.55%
Boys
48.45%
SEN support
18.04%
Education, health and care plan
3.09%
English as an additional language
30.40%
Eligible for free school meals in the past six years
54.61%
Overall absence
7.48
Persistent absence
33.33