Sir John Thursby Community College

Secondary Maintained Burnley 📅 Term dates 2025–2026 🏅 Ofsted: Good 📊 Attainment 8: 41

Sir John Thursby Community College is a mixed local-authority maintained secondary school in Burnley, Lancashire County Council, teaching 1,121 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted rated it Good at its last graded inspection in April 2023. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 41 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 19 December 2025 to 17 July 2026.

Ofsted inspection

The latest published Ofsted judgement for Sir John Thursby Community College.

Latest inspection
Good Overall effectiveness
Quality of educationGood
Behaviour & attitudesGood
Personal developmentGood
Leadership & managementGood
S5 Inspection · Inspected 25 Apr 2023 · Published 29 Jun 2023
Read full Ofsted report ↗

Scale: Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate

Term dates & holidays 2025–2026

Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for Sir John Thursby Community College.

Sir John Thursby Community College term dates calendar 2025–2026
Official term-dates calendar · 2025–2026 · source

Interactive Calendar

September 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 Inset Day (closed for students)
  • 2 School re-opens to students
October 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 27–31 Autumn Mid Term Holiday
November 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 3 School re-opens
  • 21 Closure Day
  • 24 Closure Day
December 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 19 Last day of Autumn Term
  • 22–31 Christmas Holiday
January 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–2 Christmas Holiday
  • 5 Inset Day (closed for students)
  • 6 School re-opens to students
February 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
  • 16–20 Spring Mid Term Holiday
  • 23 School re-opens
March 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 27 Last day of Spring Term
  • 30–31 Easter Holiday
April 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1–10 Easter Holiday
  • 13 School re-opens for Summer Term
May 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 4 Early May Bank Holiday
  • 25–29 Summer Mid Term Holiday
June 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 School re-opens
July 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 17 Last day of Summer Term
  • 20–31 Summer Holiday
August 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Summer Holiday

Key dates (2025–2026)

  • Inset Day (closed for students) Sep 1, 2025 Inset Day
  • School re-opens to students Sep 2, 2025 Event
  • Autumn Mid Term Holiday Oct 27-31, 2025 Holiday
  • School re-opens Nov 3, 2025 Event
  • Closure Day Nov 21, 2025 Event
  • Closure Day Nov 24, 2025 Event
  • Last day of Autumn Term Dec 19, 2025 Term
  • Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
  • Inset Day (closed for students) Jan 5, 2026 Inset Day
  • School re-opens to students Jan 6, 2026 Event
  • Spring Mid Term Holiday Feb 16-20, 2026 Holiday
  • School re-opens Feb 23, 2026 Event
  • Last day of Spring Term Mar 27, 2026 Term
  • Easter Holiday Mar 30 - Apr 10, 2026 Holiday
  • School re-opens for Summer Term Apr 13, 2026 Term
  • Early May Bank Holiday May 4, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Mid Term Holiday May 25-29, 2026 Holiday
  • School re-opens Jun 1, 2026 Event
  • Last day of Summer Term Jul 17, 2026 Term
  • Summer Holiday Jul 20 - Aug 31, 2026 Holiday

Exam results & performance

DfE performance tables Official results, 2024–2025 GOV.UK ↗
41 Attainment 8 England 46.1
30.9% Grade 5+ English & maths England 45.4%
26.3% Persistent absence England 17.8%

The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare Sir John Thursby Community College with Lancashire County Council and England.

Key stage 4 (GCSE) 41 Attainment 8 score

Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.

This school Lancashire County Council England

Attainment 8 score · Average across 8 GCSEs, out of 90 41
Lancashire County Council 45.1 England 46.1 -5.1 vs England
Grade 5+ in English & maths · A strong pass 30.9%
Lancashire County Council 43.5% England 45.4% -14.5 vs England
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils 35.9
Lancashire County Council 32.7 England 34.9 +1 vs England
Disadvantage gap · Attainment 8 points; smaller is better 7.8
Lancashire County Council 16.6 England 15.5 -7.7 vs England
Disadvantaged pupils in the year group · Context for the scores above 35%
Lancashire County Council 25.6% England 28.2%
Pupils in the year group · Small cohorts swing wildly 217
Attendance 26.3% Persistently absent pupils

Absence across the whole school year.

This school Lancashire County Council England

Persistently absent pupils · Missed 10%+ of sessions; lower is better 26.3%
Lancashire County Council 17.1% England 17.8% +8.6 vs England
Overall absence · Lower is better 8.4%
Lancashire County Council 6.5% England 6.8% +1.6 vs England
What pupils do after GCSEs 88% In education, apprenticeship or work

Still in education, an apprenticeship or work a year after key stage 4.

This school Lancashire County Council England

In education, apprenticeship or work 88%
Lancashire County Council 90% England 92% -4 vs England
Same, for disadvantaged pupils 78%
Lancashire County Council 79% England 83% -5 vs England
About this data source & caveats

Progress 8 is not published for 2024–2025. This year group missed their key stage 2 tests in 2020, so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

Attendance comparisons are pupil-weighted averages we calculate from every school’s published absence figure — the DfE absence file has no local authority or England rows of its own.

We show the headline measures only. Threshold and curriculum-policy figures — grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc entry and points, the per-subject key stage 2 breakdown, academic and applied splits at 16 to 18 — reflect admissions and curriculum choices more than school quality, so they are left to GOV.UK. Progress measures matter most because they compare pupils with others who started at the same level; attainment on its own largely tracks a school’s intake.

Figures are the Department for Education’s official published results for Sir John Thursby Community College. Results are suppressed where too few pupils were entered. England figures are the average for state-funded schools. “Top x%” is this school’s position among all schools in England with a published figure for that measure — the DfE does not publish league table rankings.

Source: Compare school and college performance, Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Location & catchment area

Indicative catchment Other secondary schools

Indicative only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to Sir John Thursby Community College than to any other secondary school. Real admissions depend on the school’s own policy (straight-line distance, siblings, faith, feeder schools and available places) and change each year. Always confirm with the school and local authority admissions team.