The Valley Leadership Academy, Bacup

Ofsted's report card from its 21 April 2026 inspection grades The Valley Leadership Academy on 6 areas: 3 expected standard and 3 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders' commitment to supporting pupils with barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing is noteworthy."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders, including those responsible for governance, have brought about much positive change since the previous inspection."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils need to learn in order to become positive citizens of the future."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils' attainment, by the end of Year 11, is below the national average."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Pupils' rates of attendance remain stubbornly low."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "The curriculum is broad and ambitious."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that staff are better equipped to spot and then resolve the gaps in pupils' learning, especially for older pupils, so that they make smooth progress through the curriculum and achieve well"; "Leaders should ensure that teachers address the gaps that some pupils have in their spelling, grammar and punctuation knowledge so that pupils are able to write fluently and accurately across different subject areas"; "Leaders should build on their strategies to tackle absence rates so that more pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, attend school regularly".

From the headteacher's welcome: "We are a fully inclusive, non-selective Academy which caters for pupils aged 11-16. As a small school, we are able to give individual attention to all of our pupils and ensure that their needs are met, irrespective of their background or ability."

In 2026, pupils at The Valley Leadership Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 34.3, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.2 in Lancashire and 47 across England.

37% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 44% in Lancashire and 47% in England.

That is up from 32.6 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -1.08: pupils made well below 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 27.5, against 39.2 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 11.7 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 15 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, History and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 43 families put The Valley Leadership Academy as their first choice and 105 named it as one of their preferences, for 104 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to The Valley Leadership Academy are Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (0.4 miles, selective, Attainment 8 75.5); Alder Grange School (2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.1); All Saints' Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy (2.8 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 42.6); and Haslingden High School and Sixth Form (3.3 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.3).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than The Valley Leadership Academy.

The Valley Leadership Academy 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.

13 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about The Valley Leadership Academy (as of September 2025): 77% would recommend the school, 85% say their child is happy there and 100% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (100%); the weakest, that they would recommend the school (77%).

Of the 118 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 65% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 59% to a further education college, 14% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

41.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 2.2% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 126 pupils (21.8%) received SEN support and 22 (3.8%) 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 social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest tram or metro stop is Rawtenstall (East Lancashire Railway), about 2.1 miles away in a straight line.

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Fearns School (outside), 90 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood The Valley Leadership Academy stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 65 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, The Valley Leadership Academy issued 201 suspensions, 34.1 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 6 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to The Valley Leadership Academy are Waterfoot Primary School (0.3 miles); St Anne's Church of England Primary School (0.6 miles); St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School, Newchurch (0.7 miles); and Bacup Holy Trinity Stacksteads 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.