Colne Park High School

Colne Park High School is a caring and inclusive school where pupils feel safe, behave well, and benefit from strong pastoral support. Recent actions have led to significant improvements in attendance and behaviour, with suspensions and exclusions falling sharply. Inclusion is at the heart of leaders' decisions, and pupils with SEND or other barriers receive effective, individualised help. Personal development is a strength, offering a wide range of clubs, trips, and a well-sequenced PSHE curriculum, and most pupils move on to suitable further education, employment, or training. However, pupils' achievement at key stage 4 is below national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. The quality of teaching is inconsistent, and teachers do not routinely check what pupils know or address misconceptions, so gaps in knowledge are widening for some, especially those with lower starting points. Support for writing and number skills is still at an early stage, and its impact is not yet evident. Leaders have secured improvements in attendance, behaviour, and inclusion, but they sometimes lack clarity on how to drive better achievement, and their strategies to raise outcomes at key stage 4 have not had the desired impact. Monitoring of the effectiveness of teaching improvements is not sharp enough. The school is part of the Apex Collaborative Trust and meets safeguarding requirements.

Strengths

• Safeguarding culture is open and positive, and pupils feel safe.
• Behaviour has improved significantly, with warm relationships and fewer suspensions.
• Attendance is improving, with individualised support for pupils facing barriers.
• Inclusion is central to leaders' decisions, with effective support for SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Personal development is strong, with a wide range of clubs, trips, and well-taught PSHE.
• Pastoral support is highly effective, and pupils know help is available.
• Careers guidance is varied and personalised, leading to suitable destinations.
• Staff feel valued and benefit from a well-designed professional development programme.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement at key stage 4 is below national averages, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Teaching quality is inconsistent, and teachers do not routinely check understanding or address misconceptions.
• Gaps in pupils' knowledge are increasing, particularly for those with lower starting points.
• Support for writing and number skills is at an early stage and its impact is unproven.
• Leaders lack clarity on how to drive improvement, and strategies to raise achievement have not had the desired impact.
• Leaders do not always evaluate the effectiveness of work to improve teaching.
• Pupils' understanding of democracy and money management is less secure.
• Some pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of education.

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 Colne Park High School attended 89.5% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 30.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 14.3% of pupils at Colne Park High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 Colne Park High School had 15.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 4.8% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 13.0% of pupils at Colne Park High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Colne Park High School received £7,897 and spent £8,118 for each of its 1,036 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,930,000 (£1,863 per pupil).

Across all 5 schools of Apex Collaborative Trust, income was £5,767 and spending £3,806 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

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

Colne Park High School is part of Apex Collaborative Trust, which runs 5 schools. The nearest others:

• Colne Lord Street School Colne
• Laneshaw Bridge Primary Colne
• Blacko Primary School Nelson
• South Craven School Keighley

What is Colne Park High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Colne Park High School is Needs attention, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Colne Park High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Colne Park High School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Colne Park High School have?

Colne Park High School has 989 pupils on roll.

What age range does Colne Park High School cover?

Colne Park High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Colne Park High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 41.5, and 39% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Colne Park High School?

Colne Park High School is at Venables Avenue, Colne, Lancashire, BB8 7DP.