Shaftesbury High School
Shaftesbury High School is a pupil referral unit in Chorley for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 106 pupils and room for 130. About 61 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 2019.
Weldbank Lane, Chorley, PR7 3NQ01257 249803shaftesbury.lancs.sch.ukMs Abigale Bowe headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 29 October 2019, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A later, shorter visit on 24 April 2025 said: “Standards maintained”.
This inspection is more than 6 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 24 April 2025 | Ungraded | Standards maintained |
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 Lancashire council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (35), language and communications needs (7), Specific learning difficulty (4), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Other difficulty or disability (2), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 106 | 103 | 91 | 92 | 75 | 78 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 61% | 62% | 52% | 48% | 52% | 49% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 1% | 0% | 1% | 5% | 3% | 1% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 42% | 34% | 29% | 21% | 24% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 6% | 4% | 7% | 5% | 9% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 41 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 40%, compared with 57% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 49% | 34% | 68% |
| Education | 24% | 20% | 30% |
| Apprenticeship | 5% | 3% | 11% |
| Work | 20% | 11% | 27% |
| Not in education, work or training | 42% | 34% | 11% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmorland School | Independent | 110 m | 86 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Mayfield School | Council | 120 m | 133 | Good 2022 | – | Compare |
| St Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Chorley | Roman Catholic | 290 m | 202 | Good 2024 | 21 | Compare |
| Chorley All Saints Church of England Primary School and Nursery Unit | Church of England | 400 m | 200 | Good 2023 | 19 | Compare |
| Duke Street Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 430 m | 96 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
| Duke Street Primary School | Council | 490 m | 317 | Good 2022 | 14 | Compare |
| Holy Cross Catholic High School | Roman Catholic | 640 m | 976 | Good 2022 | 82 | Compare |
| Gillibrand Primary School | Academy | 640 m | 201 | No overall grade 2025 | 61 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Shaftesbury High School a good school?
Shaftesbury High School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in October 2019.
What is Shaftesbury High School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Shaftesbury High School good at its last full inspection on 29 October 2019. 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 Shaftesbury High School have?
106 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 130 places, so it is 82% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Weldbank Lane, Chorley, PR7 3NQ
- Telephone
- 01257 249803
- Website
- www.shaftesbury.lancs.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Abigale Bowe
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Ward
- Chorley South West
- Constituency
- Chorley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2003 (new provision)
- URN
- 134130 · LAESTAB 8881116 · UKPRN 10016527
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.
- 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, consistent financial reporting 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.