Darwen Vale High School
Three in four Year 11 leavers stay in education, below the England rate; most to a further education college (73%).
of Year 11 leavers stayed in education · Blackburn with Darwen 83% · England 86% · DfE destination measures, pupils who left in 2023
- Ofsted
- Good
- Places
- —
- Pupils
- 1,039
- Free school meals
- 31.6%
Ofsted: Full inspection, 30 January 2024 · report. Places: the last distance at which places were offered is not on file (it comes from Blackburn with Darwen’s allocation statistics). Pupils: of 1,200 places. Free school meals: pupils eligible, a measure of family income.
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Darwen Vale High School (URN 119763, until 10 September 2014).
Where do pupils go at 16?
DfE Key Stage 4 destination measures · 158 pupils who left Year 11 in 2023
Darwen Vale High School has no sixth form. Of the 158 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, none moved to a sixth form college, 73% to a further education college and 3% started an apprenticeship.
Stayed in education — counted only if the pupil was still there for two terms of the next year; apprenticeships and jobs are counted the same way.
Full breakdown11
| Measure | Darwen Vale High School | Blackburn with Darwen | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 158 | 2,152 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 82% | 88% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 75% | 83% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 1% | 17% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | 12% | 13% |
| — further education college | 73% | 52% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 4% | 2% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 13% | 9% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 6% | 3% | 3% |
How do GCSE results compare?
Attainment 8 — average GCSE points across eight subjects, English and maths counted twice; grade 5 in everything scores 50.
DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · 218 pupils in Year 11
40% got grade 5 or above in both English and maths (Blackburn with Darwen 44%, England 45%).
Grade 5 — a “strong pass”; grade 4 is a “standard pass”. Progress 8 is not published for 2025: this cohort had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020–21, so there is no baseline.
All GCSE measures10
| Measure | Darwen Vale High School | Blackburn with Darwen | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 43.1 | 45.4 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 40% | 44% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 11% | 39% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.60 | 3.98 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 31% | 30% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 34.5 | 35.5 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 47.0 | 49.7 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 9% | 29% | 19% |
What do pupils study?
Mapped — the share of the 2,029 learning outcomes the Department for Education sets for these stages that the subjects taken here cover, weighted by how many pupils take each.
DfE subject entries 2025 · curriculum catalogue by sch.today
Art and Design stands out at GCSE — 30% of the year group took it, against 7% across England.
Fields of knowledge — twelve fields the curriculum catalogue sorts every learning outcome into; the bars show the GCSE and A level ring.
GCSE subjects18
Entries as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 215 | 99% | 89% | 14% | 20% | 63% |
| Mathematics | 215 | 99% | 88% | 17% | 22% | 65% |
| English Literature | 211 | 97% | 86% | 17% | 21% | 64% |
| Combined Science | 194 | 89% | 65% | 7% | 9% | 59% |
| History | 141 | 65% | 41% | 21% | 26% | 56% |
| Art and Design | 65 | 30% | 7% | 8% | 24% | 88% |
| Geography | 55 | 25% | 41% | 20% | 25% | 53% |
| Photography | 27 | 12% | 6% | 11% | 19% | 67% |
| French | 25 | 11% | 18% | 52% | 29% | 96% |
| Computer Science | 18 | 8% | 13% | 11% | 30% | 39% |
| Biology | 18 | 8% | 23% | 22% | 45% | 94% |
| Physics | 17 | 8% | 23% | 29% | 46% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 17 | 8% | 23% | 35% | 47% | 100% |
| Urdu | 4 | 2% | 1% | — | 42% | — |
| Citizenship Studies | 4 | 2% | 3% | — | 19% | — |
| Polish | 3 | 1% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Spanish | 1 | 0% | 19% | — | 27% | — |
| Italian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications5
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Business Management | 91 | — | — |
| Sports / Movement Science | 60 | — | — |
| Hospitality / Catering Studies | 55 | — | — |
| Speech and Drama | 30 | — | — |
| Dance: General | 7 | — | — |
Fields of knowledge, all stages12
Ideas pupils meet most, weighted by the share of the cohort taking the subjects that teach them:
Coverage counts a subject’s outcomes in proportion to the share of the cohort entered for it; Combined Science counts as two thirds of the three separate sciences. Levels follow ISCED 2011 as UNESCO maps it for the UK: Key Stage 3 is ISCED 2; GCSE and A level are both ISCED 3. Methodology: about the data.
Which jobs use what’s taught here?
A match of what’s taught, not of entry requirements: the standards whose knowledge and skills share the most ideas with the GCSEs and A levels taken here, weighted by how many pupils take each subject.
Level 3 / Level 6 — England’s qualification levels: 3 is A level standard, 4–5 are higher apprenticeships, 6 is a bachelor’s degree.
Skills England apprenticeship standards (Open Government Licence v3.0) · ESCO occupations, © European Union, matched by sch.today · how the match works
More apprenticeships9
How do you get a place?
The last distance at which Darwen Vale High School offered Year 7 places is not yet on file; it comes from Blackburn with Darwen’s allocation statistics.
- 31 OctApply to Blackburn with Darwen in Year 6 for a Year 7 place
- 1 MarNational Offer Day
Compare with nearby schools
More Blackburn with Darwen schools3
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.