Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy

Blackburn with Darwen · BB1 1PY

General information Secondary School · 11-16 years Who goes here 770 pupils, 47.7% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted: Requires improvement

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 17.5% on SEN support Behaviour 13.8% absence rate Staff 31.5% turnover Financials £8,305 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy

General Information

Address: North Road, Blackburn, BB1 1PY – View on map
Phone: 01254588388
Headteacher: Mr Tonino Passarello
Age range: 11-16 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 106 families put it first for 155 places – 7 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2024 6 · 2025 7 · 2026 7
Sixth form: No
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Roman Catholic
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

770 pupils out of 821 places

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 367
% eligible for free school meals: 47.7%
Pupil mix: 7 in 10 (more mixed than the Blackburn with Darwen average)
English as an additional language: 38% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 31.5% a year (Blackburn with Darwen 18.6%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 62% moved to another school, 38% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (one year, 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 Blackburn with Darwen: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 6 (0.5 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
Suspensions for bullying: 46 (3.9 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 13 (1.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen, 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: 13.8%
Persistently absent pupils: 40.5%
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: 17.5%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.1%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 42 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 39 pupils
Physical disability: 13 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 12 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 11 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Speech, language and communications needs: 10 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 8 pupils
Moderate learning difficulty: 4 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil
Physical disability: 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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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Requires improvement 2023 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Attainment 8 score: 37.2
Compared with the area: 9.1 points below the Blackburn with Darwen average (46.3)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (−6.0 points against an expected 43.2)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 42% (Blackburn with Darwen 65%, England 65%)
Data year: 2024/25

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

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

10th of 12 secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for Attainment 8

#8Blackburn Central High School41.0
#9Witton Park Academy40.3
#10Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy37.2
#11Darwen Aldridge Community Academy36.5
#12Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio34.7

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School72.3
#2Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School62.5
#3St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy50.8
#4Pleckgate High School49.2
#5St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn47.4
#6Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School47.0
#7Darwen Vale High School43.1
#8Blackburn Central High School41.0
#9Witton Park Academy40.3
#10Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy37.2
#11Darwen Aldridge Community Academy36.5
#12Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio34.7

GCSE Subjects Offered

English Language
Maths (General)
English Literature
Religious Studies
Science Double Award
History
Geography
Spanish
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Physics (General)
Computer Science
French Language
Urdu
Art & Design
Music Studies (General)
Polish
Italian

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

8th of 8 secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for Ofsted rating

#6Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolGood
#7St Wilfrid's Church of England AcademyGood
#8Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary AcademyRequires improvement

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Pleckgate High SchoolOutstanding
#2Tauheedul Islam Boys' High SchoolOutstanding
#3Tauheedul Islam Girls' High SchoolOutstanding
#4Blackburn Central High SchoolGood
#5Darwen Vale High SchoolGood
#6Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SchoolGood
#7St Wilfrid's Church of England AcademyGood
#8Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary AcademyRequires improvement

Financials

Spending per pupil: £8,305 (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.

3rd of 12 secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen for spending per pupil

#1Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School£8,773
#2Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio£8,753
#3Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy£8,305
#4St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn£8,241
#5Witton Park Academy£8,202

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

#1Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School£8,773
#2Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio£8,753
#3Our Lady and St John RC High School, a Voluntary Academy£8,305
#4St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn£8,241
#5Witton Park Academy£8,202
#6Darwen Aldridge Community Academy£7,907
#7Pleckgate High School£7,679
#8Darwen Vale High School£7,320
#9Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School£7,194
#10St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy£7,142
#11Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School£6,810
#12Blackburn Central High School£613

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

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Blackburn with Darwen: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered