Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy
Darwen, BB3 0EY · Blackburn with Darwen local authority
Darwen’s School Grade D better than 7% of towns in England
What stands out about Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy
- Its own letter, D−: Key Stage 2 results near the bottom of England’s primary schools (better than 1%)
- 27% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 35 points below England’s schools
- 42% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (more than England’s 25%)
- Ofsted: Inspected, July 2025 (shown, not graded)
- Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (28 of 28)
- Homes in its postcode sector (BB3 0) sold for a median £156,000; Darwen’s is £140,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 27%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 1% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · Blackburn with Darwen avg 60%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 99, maths 100 (100 = the expected standard)
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy?
Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.
In every year shown, every family who put it first was offered a place. The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Cidari Education Limited sets the admissions rules. Apply through Blackburn with Darwen council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
100% got their first choice
Darwen and Blackburn with Darwen, side by side
2023–2025All 50 graded primaries in Blackburn with Darwen. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Darwen’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Olive School, Blackburn | A+ | 4% | 95% |
| Blackburn the Redeemer CofE Primary | A+ | 10% | 83% |
| Turton Belmont Community Primary School | A | 3% | 82% |
| Lammack Primary School | A | 8% | 80% |
| Brookhouse Primary School | A | 19% | 78% |
| Daisyfield Primary School | A | 20% | 77% |
| Wensley Fold CofE Primary Academy | A | 10% | 76% |
| Audley Junior School | A− | 32% | 75% |
| Cedars Primary School | A− | 21% | 73% |
| St Paul's Roman Catholic Primary School, Feniscowles, Blackburn | A− | 6% | 72% |
| Longshaw Community Junior School | B+ | 65% | 69% |
| St Barnabas and St Paul's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | B+ | 35% | 69% |
| St Mary's and St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | B+ | 29% | 69% |
| St Edward's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | B+ | 18% | 69% |
| Ashleigh Primary School | B+ | 15% | 68% |
| Avondale Primary School | B+ | 28% | 68% |
| St Gabriel's Church of England Primary School | B | 11% | 67% |
| Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | B | 41% | 67% |
| Darwen, St Barnabas CofE Primary Academy | B | 9% | 67% |
| St Stephen's Church of England Primary School | B | 26% | 66% |
| Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School | B | 2% | 66% |
| Blackburn St Thomas' Church of England Primary School | B | 20% | 65% |
| St Michael With St John CofE Primary School | B | 26% | 65% |
| Griffin Park Primary School | B− | 23% | 64% |
| Livesey Saint Francis' Church of England School | B− | 21% | 61% |
| Shadsworth Junior School | C+ | 64% | 59% |
| St James' Church of England Primary School Blackburn | C+ | 24% | 59% |
| St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School, Blackburn | C+ | 26% | 58% |
| Roe Lee Park Primary School | C | 29% | 57% |
| Feniscowles Primary School | C | 10% | 57% |
| St Anne's Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | C | 50% | 56% |
| St Antony's RC Primary School | C | 43% | 56% |
| Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary School | C | 36% | 55% |
| Holy Souls Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | C | 19% | 55% |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen | C− | 15% | 53% |
| Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | C− | 26% | 52% |
| St James' Church of England Primary School | C− | 25% | 51% |
| St Alban's Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | C− | 46% | 51% |
| St Matthew's Church of England Primary School | C− | 40% | 49% |
| Meadowhead Junior School | D | 61% | 46% |
| Holy Trinity VC School | D | 48% | 46% |
| St Silas's CofE Primary School | D | 22% | 45% |
| Intack Primary School | D | 41% | 42% |
| St Luke and St Philips Church of England Primary School | D | 50% | 41% |
| Lower Darwen Primary School | D− | 20% | 35% |
| St Stephen's Tockholes CofE Primary School | D− | 18% | 35% |
| Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary | D− | 50% | 33% |
| St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School | D− | 34% | 32% |
| St Aidan's Primary School - A Church of England Academy | D− | 55% | 30% |
| Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy | D− | 42% | 27% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025194 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), July 2025.
Living near Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in BB3 0, the school’s postcode sector
Darwen property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in BB3 0 sell for a little over Darwen’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
14 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Darwen, BB3 0EY
Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy: common questions
Is Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy a good school?
By its published results, well below average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 1% of England’s primary schools (its letter is D−), with 27% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, July 2025.
How hard is it to get into Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy?
For September 2026, 28 families put Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy first and all of them were offered a place; 29 places were offered in all.
What is Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (July 2025).
How much do houses cost near Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, BB3 0, sold for a median £156,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (381 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Darwen’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.