Aldridge Utc Darwen, Darwen

Ofsted's report card from its 20 January 2026 inspection grades Aldridge Utc Darwen on 7 areas: 1 strong standard and 6 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Inclusion - Strong standard. "Inclusive practices are firmly embedded throughout the school."

Achievement - Expected standard. "Typically, pupils achieve well."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "A significant number of pupils have had previous negative experiences of education."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed a unique curriculum."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders and governors share a moral purpose to provide an education that makes a tangible difference to pupils' lives."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "The specialist nature of the school means that careers provision is woven through all aspects of its work."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders have recently implemented carefully considered changes to the qualifications on offer so that the post-16 curriculum is appropriately matched to students' needs."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should continue their work to remove barriers to pupils attending school, ensuring that the number of pupils attending regularly continues to increase"; "Leaders should ensure that staff use strategies to check what pupils know and can do consistently well so that any misconceptions can be addressed before learning moves on"; "Leaders should ensure that priorities are identified consistently promptly so that any areas for improvement are acted upon swiftly and effectively".

In 2025, pupils at Aldridge Utc Darwen averaged an Attainment 8 score of 34.7, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.8 in Blackburn with Darwen and 46.8 across England.

28% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 46% in Blackburn with Darwen and 46% in England.

That is down from 36.4 in 2024.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.82: pupils made well below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2025.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 34.3, against 37.8 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 3.5 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 12 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Art and Design and Multimedia.

Across Blackburn with Darwen, 79% of families were offered their first-choice secondary school for 2026 entry, and 94% were offered one of the schools they named.

In 2025, families in Blackburn with Darwen lodged 279 appeals against secondary school offers; 243 reached a hearing and 23 succeeded (9.5% of those heard).

The nearest other state secondary schools to Aldridge Utc Darwen are Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (0.4 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 36.5); Darwen Vale High School (1.3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.1); St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn (2.8 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 47.4); and Blackburn Central High School (2.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 41).

Each of them had higher 2025 results than Aldridge Utc Darwen.

Aldridge Utc Darwen is one of 9 schools run by Aldridge Education, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40.4 in 2023/24, with a Progress 8 score of -0.39 (zero is the national average).

Of the 52 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2022/23, 87% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 40% to a further education college and 2% into work.

Of the 36 students who left the sixth form in 2022/23, 47% went on to university or other higher education and 25% into work. 6% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

42.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (the average state school: 24.5%), and 2.3% speak English as an additional language (average: 18.5%), according to the 2025 school census.

In 2025, 79 pupils (29.9%) received SEN support and 16 (6.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 15.6% and 3.9% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

Aldridge Utc Darwen employed 20 teachers in 2024, roughly one for every 13 pupils. Their average salary was £45,840.

Its 2026 funding allocation works out at £8,635 per pupil (£2 million in total), including £101,050 of pupil premium for disadvantaged pupils.

The nearest railway station is Darwen Rail Station, about 430 metres away (roughly a 5-minute walk).

17 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Health Centre (by), 80 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Aldridge Utc Darwen stands in is among the 30% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. On income deprivation affecting children it is in the 5th decile, where the 1st is the most deprived. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 193 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and arson. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Blackburn with Darwen (289).

In 2023/24, Aldridge Utc Darwen issued 14 suspensions, 5.2 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 2.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Aldridge Utc Darwen are Holy Trinity VC School (0.1 miles); St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen (0.5 miles); Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy (0.5 miles); and Avondale Primary School (0.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.