Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School

Padiham St Leonard’s Primary School has been rated as requiring improvement in key areas including the quality of education, behaviour, attitudes, and leadership. While the school has made strides in creating a broad curriculum and has effective early years provision, inconsistencies in curriculum delivery mean that some pupils, including those with special educational needs, are not achieving their potential. Despite the positive school environment where pupils are generally happy and safe, behaviour issues during unstructured times remain a concern. These factors hinder the school's overall effectiveness.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Effective early years provision helps children develop fundamental knowledge and skills.
• The school prioritizes attendance and takes action to address barriers.
• Pupils enjoy extracurricular activities that enhance their personal development.

Areas for Improvement

• Inconsistent delivery of curriculum leads to some pupils not achieving their potential.
• Behaviour management policies are not consistently upheld, resulting in low-level disruptions.
• Phonics support does not effectively address individual gaps in knowledge.
• Robust checks on pupil learning are lacking, leading to unidentified misconceptions.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School attended 93.1% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 18.0% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.9% of pupils at Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School had 17.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 0.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 17.0% of pupils at Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 9.3% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 16 pupils.

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School received £9,133 and spent £9,038 for each of its 309 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £172,000 (£558 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Burnley · Lancashire local authority: places and applications

What is Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in July 2024.

When was Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School was last inspected in July 2024.

How many pupils does Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School have?

Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School has 312 pupils on roll.

What age range does Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School cover?

Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 60% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School?

Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School is at Moor Lane, Padiham, Padiham St Leonard's Ce Va Primary, Padiham, Burnley, Lancashire, BB12 8HT.