Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy

State-Funded School

darwen-st-james-cofe-primary-academy-blackburn-with-darwen-north-west

North WestRegion

Blackburn with DarwenLocal Authority

Rossendale and DarwenConstituency

BB3 0EYPostcode

0.8

Academic Performance

Ofsted

No overall grade

About the School

Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is a state-funded primary for pupils aged 3–11, located in Blackburn with Darwen, North West.

It currently serves 203 pupils. Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy is part of Cidari Education Limited.

Ofsted Rating

Safeguarding effective

Yes

Rating last maintained

2025

Subject Areas

Leadership &management

Requires improvement

Quality ofeducation

Requires improvement

Personaldevelopment

Good

Behaviour &attitudes

Good

Early yearsprovision

Good

Academic Performance

Well below average

Ranked against primary schools in England · 2023-24

Reading, writing & maths: 28%
Higher standard: 0%
Reading score: 98
Maths score: 96

Ethnicity

White

61%

Asian

20%

Black

12%

Mixed

Any other group

<1%

Unclassified

Pupils

203

Total Pupils

47%Boys

53%Girls

Pupil Characteristics

Free school meals

34%

England average

27%

First language not English

34%

England average

22%

Young carers

England average

0%25%50%75%100%

DfE school census, January 2026.

Key Information

Phase: Primary
Age range: 3 – 11
Deprivation band: Most deprived
Total pupils: 203
IDACI quintile: 5 (Least deprived)
MAT name: Cidari Education Limited

Inspection history

3 graded inspections published by Ofsted. Ungraded and monitoring visits are not shown.

Report published					Overall
15 Sept 2025	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Good	Good	Not judged
1 May 2023	Inadequate	Inadequate	Good	Good	Inadequate
13 Jan 2012	Good	Not reported in this inspection	Not reported in this inspection	Not reported in this inspection	Good

A grey dot means Ofsted did not report that judgement in the inspection of the day — the sub-judgements shown here were introduced with the 2019 framework.

Ofsted data as at 31 December 2024. A school may have been inspected since, or had an ungraded visit that does not change its grade — check Ofsted’s own record.