St Thomas's Centre
St Thomas's Centre is a pupil referral unit in Blackburn for boys and girls aged 5 to 16. It has 115 pupils. About 59 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was outstanding, back in 2024.
Hawthorn Street, Blackburn, BB1 9TH01254 958401stthomasscentre.comMrs Angy Saaiman headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 12 June 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Outstanding overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that, although the inspectors did raise some concerns, so a full inspection will follow. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
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.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (75), Autistic spectrum disorder (3), Moderate learning difficulty (2), language and communications needs (2), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 115 | 106 | 83 | 79 | 74 | 106 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 59% | 66% | 55% | 67% | 68% | 76% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 5% | 7% | 6% | 3% | 14% | 9% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 73% | 89% | 87% | 89% | 92% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 9% | 5% | 13% | 11% | 5% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 28 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 50%, compared with 25% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 43% | 60% | 60% |
| Education | 39% | 60% | 56% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 4% | 0% | 4% |
| Not in education, work or training | 29% | 30% | 29% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedars Primary School | Council | 110 m | 407 | Good 2019 | 82 | Compare |
| Brookhouse Primary School | Council | 470 m | 247 | Good 2022 | 81 | Compare |
| Islamiyah School | Independent | 480 m | 153 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Rawdhatul Uloom Islamic Primary School | Independent | 760 m | 140 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Stephen's Church of England Primary School | Church of England | 790 m | 392 | Good 2022 | 59 | Compare |
| St James' Church of England Primary School Blackburn | Church of England | 810 m | 395 | Good 2022 | 33 | Compare |
| Holy Souls Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn | Roman Catholic | 940 m | 189 | Good 2023 | 50 | Compare |
| Daisyfield Primary School | Council | 960 m | 292 | Good 2023 | 86 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is St Thomas's Centre a good school?
St Thomas's Centre doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it outstanding at its last inspection in June 2024.
What is St Thomas's Centre's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated St Thomas's Centre outstanding at its last full inspection on 12 June 2024.
How many pupils does St Thomas's Centre have?
115 pupils aged 5 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026.
Does St Thomas's Centre have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hawthorn Street, Blackburn, BB1 9TH
- Telephone
- 01254 958401
- Website
- www.stthomasscentre.com
- Headteacher
- Mrs Angy Saaiman
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Ward
- Roe Lee
- Constituency
- Blackburn
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2000
- URN
- 132128 · LAESTAB 8891100 · UKPRN 10016600
- Formerly
- The Sunnyhurst Centre
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.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.