The educational watchdog Ofsted visited 113 mainstream primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in Lancashire between January 1 2024 and December 26 2025.
Educational establishments can be rated one of four grades - outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate - with a mix of ratings being given out throughout the year.
As of September 2024, Ofsted also changed the way it inspects schools so now, no overall effectiveness rating is given, instead just individual ratings across categories.
Of those 113 schools and colleges, only seventeen were rated outstanding’ against one or all categories in 2025.
Take a look at all those schools and colleges below, including their highlights and the areas that require improvement - if any!
5. Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School
Report published Jan 23 following an inspection on Dec 10-11. Classed as outstanding for all categories. Highlights: pupils love their school; pupils behave and achive exceptionnaly well; broad and innovative curriculum. Improvements needed: none. Previous inspection: Outstanding | Google Maps
6. Blackburn the Redeemer CofE Primary
Report published Jan 23 following an ungraded inspection on Dec 17-18. Judged to have maintained standards. Highlights: pupils flourish at this exceptional school; pupils achieve and behave extremely well; highly ambitious curriculum. Improvements needed: none. Previous inspection: Outstanding | Google Maps
7. Hambleton Primary Academy
Report published Jan 27 following an inspection on Dec 17-18. Classed as outstanding for all categories. Highlights: safe, happy and exciting place to learn and play; pupils achieve remarkably well; broad, ambitious and highly relevant curriculum. Improvements needed: none. Previous inspection: Outstanding | Google Maps
8. Blackburn College
Report published Feb 10 following an inspection on Nov 12-15. Classed as good for 4 categories, outstanding for 4. Highlights: students and apprentices really enjoy coming to college; cohesive and harmonious culture; ambitious curriculums. Improvements needed: implement improvement measures across apprenticeships so proportion who achieve their apprenticeships is consistently high; students’ attendance and proportion who achieve highergrades in GCSE mathematics. Previous inspection: Good. | Google Maps