Darwen Vale High School

State-Funded School

darwen-vale-high-school-blackburn-with-darwen-north-west

North WestRegion

Blackburn with DarwenLocal Authority

Rossendale and DarwenConstituency

BB3 0ALPostcode

3.4

Academic Performance

Ofsted

About the School

Darwen Vale High School is a state-funded secondary for pupils aged 11–16, located in Blackburn with Darwen, North West.

The school is rated Good by Ofsted. It currently serves 1,039 pupils. Darwen Vale High School is part of Aldridge Education.

Ofsted Rating

Safeguarding effective

Yes

Rating last maintained

2024

Subject Areas

Leadership &management

Good

Quality ofeducation

Good

Personaldevelopment

Good

Behaviour &attitudes

Good

Academic Performance

Below average

Ranked against secondary schools in England · 2024-25

Attainment 8: 43.1
Grade 5+ in English & maths: 40.4%
EBacc average point score: 3.6

Ethnicity

White

90%

Asian

<1%

Black

<1%

Mixed

Chinese

<1%

Any other group

Unclassified

Pupils

1,039

Total Pupils

53%Boys

47%Girls

Pupil Characteristics

Free school meals

32%

England average

27%

First language not English

England average

22%

Young carers

<1%

England average

0%25%50%75%100%

DfE school census, January 2026.

Key Information

Phase: Secondary
Age range: 11 – 16
Deprivation band: Deprived
Total pupils: 1,039
IDACI quintile: 4 (Less deprived)
MAT name: Aldridge Education

Inspection history

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

Report published					Overall
11 Mar 2024	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good
3 Jun 2020	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Requires improvement

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.