Crosshill Special School
Crosshill Special School is a special academy in Darwen for boys and girls aged 5 to 18. It has 183 pupils and room for 185. About 50 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2021.
Salisbury Road, Darwen, BB3 1HZ01254 667713crosshillblackburn.co.ukMiss Nicola Pemberton headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 23 November 2021, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
23 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. That usually means the year group was too small to publish without identifying children.
Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025
4 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England. With a year group this small, a couple of children can move the percentages a long way.
All Year 6 measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | Blackburn with Darwen | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils tested | 4 | – | – |
There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Blackburn with Darwen council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Blackburn with Darwen with moderate learning difficulties provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Moderate learning difficulty (59), Autistic spectrum disorder (50), language and communications needs (36), Physical disability (13), Severe learning difficulty (5), emotional and mental health (4).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 183 | 175 | 134 | 106 | 81 | 69 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 48% | 45% | 40% | 32% | 37% | 41% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 31% | 29% | 19% | 23% | 20% | 16% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 99% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.1% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 9.9% | 7.6% | 9.7% | 9.3% | 17.2% | 7.4% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 6.9% | 6.0% | 8.1% | 7.7% | 15.6% | 5.4% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.0% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 2.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 33.3% | 25.2% | 34.3% | 28.8% | 64.4% | 25.0% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 5.7 | 8.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Crosshill Special School, the school this one replaced in October 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 14 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 86% | 100% | 100% | 95% |
| Education | 86% | 100% | 100% | 95% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 14% | 0% | 0% | 5% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avondale Primary School | Council | 200 m | 400 | Good 2023 | 78 | Compare |
| St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 410 m | 184 | Requires improvement 2024 | 2 | Compare |
| St Edward's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | Academy | 920 m | 198 | Good 2020 | 41 | Compare |
| Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio | Studio schools | 0.6 miles | 275 | Report card 2026 | 12 | Compare |
| Holy Trinity VC School | Church of England | 0.8 miles | 119 | No overall grade 2025 | 7 | Compare |
| Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 203 | No overall grade 2025 | 3 | Compare |
| Darwen Aldridge Community Academy | Academy | 1.0 miles | 1,036 | No overall grade 2025 | 9 | Compare |
| Darwen Vale High School | Academy | 1.0 miles | 1,039 | Good 2024 | 31 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Crosshill Special School a good school?
Crosshill Special School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in November 2021.
What is Crosshill Special School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Crosshill Special School good at its last full inspection on 23 November 2021. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How many pupils does Crosshill Special School have?
183 pupils aged 5 to 18 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 185 places, so it is 99% full.
What is attendance like at Crosshill Special School?
Pupils were in school 90.1% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 33% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Crosshill Special School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for moderate learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Crosshill Special School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Salisbury Road, Darwen, BB3 1HZ
- Telephone
- 01254 667713
- Website
- www.crosshillblackburn.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Miss Nicola Pemberton
- Type of school
- Special academy (Academy special converter, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 5-18, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Oak Learning Partnership (9 schools)
- Local authority
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Ward
- Darwen West
- Constituency
- Rossendale and Darwen
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 October 2019 (academy converter)
- URN
- 146899 · LAESTAB 8897003 · UKPRN 10083594
- Formerly
- Crosshill Special School
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Year 6 results: DfE key stage 2 tables, 2024/25.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.