Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Burnley · BB11 3EJ

General information Primary School · 4-11 years Who goes here 200 pupils, 38% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 23% on SEN support Behaviour 6.5% absence rate Staff 7.9% turnover Financials £7,741 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

General Information

Address: Woodgrove Road, Burnley, BB11 3EJ – View on map
Phone: 01282427848
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mrs Laura Rostron
Age range: 4-11 years
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Church of England
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

200 pupils out of 210 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 76
% eligible for free school meals: 38.0%
Pupil mix: 3 in 10 (less mixed than the Burnley average)
English as an additional language: 11% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 7.9% a year (Burnley 12.5%, typical in England 13.9%)
Where they went: about 50% moved to another school, 50% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house. This is a small staff, so one or two teachers leaving moves the figure a lot.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Lancashire: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 9 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 3
Suspensions for bullying: 18 (0.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.2)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 7 (0.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.0)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state primary schools in Lancashire (the council area this school is in), not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 6.5%
Persistently absent pupils: 19.7%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 23.0%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 1.5%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Speech, language and communications needs: 15 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 12 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 12 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 3 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 2 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 2 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card April 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Needs attention
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Achievement Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour Needs attention
Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention
Early years Needs attention
Leadership and governance Needs attention

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 40% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 3% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 16 percentage points below the Burnley average (56%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (3-year average 36% against an expected 55%)
3-year average (expected standard): 36%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 63% · Writing 50% · Maths 43% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 50%
Average test scores: reading 102, maths 98
Based on: 30 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

SATs results over time

This schoolBurnley averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 16 percentage points below the Burnley average (56%).

Year 6 SATs: 27th of 29 junior and primary schools in the area

=25Burnley Springfield Community Primary School43%
=25St Mary's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy43%
#27Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School40%
#28Burnley Lowerhouse Junior School35%
#29Burnley Brunshaw Primary School23%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

#1St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Primary School, Padiham80%
#2Burnley Stoneyholme Community Primary School79%
#3Casterton Primary Academy72%
#4Wellfield Methodist and Anglican Church School70%
=5Briercliffe Primary School69%
=5St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy69%
=7Christ The King Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy67%
=7Whittlefield Primary School67%
=9Barden Primary School60%
=9Heasandford Primary School60%
=9Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School60%
#12St John the Baptist RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy59%
#13St John's CofE Primary School, Cliviger57%
#14Hapton Church of England/Methodist Primary School56%
=15Cherry Fold Community Primary School55%
=15Rosewood Primary School55%
=17Burnley St Peter's Church of England Primary School53%
=17St Augustine of Canterbury RC Primary School, A Voluntary Academy53%
#19St James' Lanehead Church of England Primary School50%
#20Padiham Green Church of England Primary School48%
=21Padiham Primary School47%
=21Worsthorne Primary School47%
#23Burnley Ightenhill Primary School46%
#24Burnley Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School45%
=25Burnley Springfield Community Primary School43%
=25St Mary's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy43%
#27Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School40%
#28Burnley Lowerhouse Junior School35%
#29Burnley Brunshaw Primary School23%

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £7,741 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

7th of 28 primary schools in Burnley for spending per pupil

#5Padiham Green Church of England Primary School£7,970
#6Burnley Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School£7,854
#7Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School£7,741
#8Burnley St Peter's Church of England Primary School£7,732
#9Whittlefield Primary School£7,570

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Cherry Fold Community Primary School£8,539
#2Barden Primary School£8,361
#3Padiham St Leonard's Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School£8,051
#4Burnley Springfield Community Primary School£8,033
#5Padiham Green Church of England Primary School£7,970
#6Burnley Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School£7,854
#7Burnley St Stephen's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School£7,741
#8Burnley St Peter's Church of England Primary School£7,732
#9Whittlefield Primary School£7,570
#10Rosewood Primary School£7,428
#11Padiham Primary School£7,337
#12Hapton Church of England/Methodist Primary School£7,317
#13Burnley Stoneyholme Community Primary School£7,162
#14Casterton Primary Academy£7,045
#15St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy£6,928
#16St Augustine of Canterbury RC Primary School, A Voluntary Academy£6,903
#17Burnley Brunshaw Primary School£6,862
#18St John the Baptist RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy£6,792
#19Wellfield Methodist and Anglican Church School£6,689
#20St James' Lanehead Church of England Primary School£6,677
#21St John's CofE Primary School, Cliviger£6,674
#22Burnley Ightenhill Primary School£6,656
#23Christ The King Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy£6,578
#24Heasandford Primary School£6,528
#25St Mary's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy£6,443
#26St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Primary School, Padiham£6,377
#27Worsthorne Primary School£6,160
#28Briercliffe Primary School£5,984

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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