Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, Rossendale

Ofsted's report card from its 9 June 2026 inspection grades Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School on 7 areas: 7 exceptional. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Exceptional. "Leaders and staff are unapologetically high-reaching for what pupils at this school can achieve."

Attendance and behaviour - Exceptional. "Pupils attend regularly because this school is a place where they feel comfortable, cared for and able to do well."

Curriculum and teaching - Exceptional. "Leaders have a forensic understanding of the quality of the curriculum and teaching across school."

Inclusion - Exceptional. "Leaders have created a highly inclusive school where their commitment to knowing every pupil well, drives their success in dismantling barriers to learning and wellbeing."

Leadership and governance - Exceptional. "Since joining Star Academies, school leaders have worked closely with trust leaders, taking swift and timely action to address any shortcomings."

Personal development and wellbeing - Exceptional. "Provision for pupils' personal development is impressive."

Post-16 provision - Exceptional. "Leaders have designed a high quality, relevant and ambitious curriculum for post-16 study."

Safeguarding standards were met.

From the headteacher's welcome: "A very warm welcome to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS), where we are dedicated to providing educational excellence for all of our students and committed to helping them to reach their full potential."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, netball, tennis, basketball, dance, drama, choir, ukulele, Lego and STEM.

Coming up: an open evening on Wednesday 11 November 2026 at 6pm. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 75.5, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.2 in Lancashire and 47 across England.

99% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 44% in Lancashire and 47% in England.

That is up from 73.3 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.36: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 71.1, against 75.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 4.8 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 19 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were German, Biology and Physics.

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School is a grammar school: places go to children who reach the required standard in its entrance test, and only then are the oversubscription criteria applied.

For September 2026 entry, 219 families put Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School as their first choice and 385 named it as one of their preferences, for 181 places offered. That is 1.2 first choices for every place. 47 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School admits pupils through an entrance test, usually called the 11-plus. Children have to be registered for it in advance, normally in the spring or summer of Year 5; the test itself is usually sat in September of Year 6, and results come out in October, before the 31 October deadline for naming secondary schools.

Passing the test makes a child eligible rather than guaranteeing a place: when more children pass than there are places, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School ranks them by the criteria in its admissions policy, which can include test score and distance. Check Lancashire's admissions pages and the school's own policy for this year's registration deadline - a child who is not registered in time cannot sit the test.

Lancashire has 4 state grammar schools in all, so a child who passes may have several selective schools to choose between.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School are The Valley Leadership Academy (0.4 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 34.3); Alder Grange School (1.8 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.1); All Saints' Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy (2.4 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 42.6); and Haslingden High School and Sixth Form (3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.3).

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School is one of 36 schools run by Star Academies, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 50.6 in 2024/25.

Of the 174 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 97% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 28% to a further education college and 1% into work.

Of the 153 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 70% went on to university or other higher education, 3% to apprenticeships and 14% into work.

6.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 8.1% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (57%), Asian (28%) and Mixed (7%).

In 2026, 89 pupils (8.2%) received SEN support and 10 (0.9%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is speech, language and communication needs.

The nearest tram or metro stop is Rawtenstall (East Lancashire Railway), about 1.8 miles away in a straight line.

13 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Jolly Sailor (by), 110 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 59 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Lancashire (109).

In 2024/25, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School issued 8 suspensions, 0.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School are Waterfoot Primary School (0.1 miles); Rawtenstall Newchurch Church of England Primary School (0.5 miles); St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School, Newchurch (0.5 miles); and St Anne's Church of England Primary School (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.