Witton Park Academy, Blackburn

Ofsted's report card from its 24 February 2026 inspection grades Witton Park Academy on 6 areas: 6 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Needs attention. "Some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not learn the curriculum as well as they should."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Recent actions to improve attendance have not secured leaders' intended benefit for some pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Staff's expertise in adapting teaching for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is developing."

Inclusion - Needs attention. "Leaders do not remove barriers to pupils' learning with enough consistency."

Leadership and governance - Needs attention. "Leadership has been through a period of considerable change, and this has affected the consistency and quality of the school's work."

Personal development and wellbeing - Needs attention. "Leaders have recently developed a more coherent programme for personal development."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that teachers are equipped to teach the curriculum well and match learning activities to pupils' needs and starting points, including any special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), so that all pupils build a deep body of knowledge and achieve highly"; "Leaders should ensure that teachers check pupils' understanding effectively so that learning is adapted in response to gaps in pupils' knowledge and that these gaps are addressed promptly and securely"; "Leaders should improve how they support pupils who have difficulties in writing and mathematics so that these pupils can access the curriculum with confidence"; "Leaders should analyse attendance patterns with greater precision and work more effectively with families and other agencies so that barriers to attendance, particularly for pupils with SEND, are identified and reduced more quickly"; "Leaders should ensure that behaviour expectations are applied consistently well by staff so that behaviour at social times is respectful, and suspensions, especially for pupils with SEND, reduce over time"; "Leaders should ensure that responses to bullying incidents are handled consistently well by all staff and that actions taken are communicated clearly so that pupils and parents have greater confidence in how concerns are managed and how safe pupils feel"; "Leaders should track pupils' participation in personal development opportunities more carefully so they can identify gaps, adapt provision and ensure that all groups of pupils, including those with SEND, access the full offer"; "Leaders should ensure that staff professional learning translates consistently into classroom practice by securing full staff engagement so that agreed approaches are implemented reliably".

In 2026, pupils at Witton Park Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 39.9, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 45.2 in Blackburn with Darwen and 47 across England.

40% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 44% in Blackburn with Darwen and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 40.3.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.7: 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 34.9, against 43.2 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 8.3 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Religious Studies and History.

For September 2026 entry, 67 families put Witton Park Academy as their first choice and 393 named it as one of their preferences, for 219 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 Witton Park Academy are St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 49.8); Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School (0.8 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 68.7); Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School (0.9 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 62.6); and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (1 mile, Good, Attainment 8 44.3).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Witton Park Academy.

Witton Park Academy is one of 6 schools run by Achievement Through Collaboration Trust, an academy trust.

48 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Witton Park Academy (as of April 2026): 31% would recommend the school, 33% say their child is happy there and 14% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that pupils behave well (40%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (14%).

Of the 230 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 80% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 54% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 4% into work.

41.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 64.4% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Asian (60%), White British (17%) and Mixed (6%).

In 2026, 174 pupils (14%) received SEN support and 21 (1.7%) 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 railway station is Mill Hill (Lancs) Rail Station, about 930 metres away (roughly a 12-minute walk).

8 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Witton Park High School (adjacent), 160 metres away.

In 2024/25, Witton Park Academy issued 815 suspensions, 62.1 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 9 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Witton Park Academy are Griffin Park Primary School (0.3 miles); St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School, Blackburn (0.4 miles); Wensley Fold CofE Primary Academy (0.4 miles); and St Aidan's Primary School - A Church of England Academy (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.