Chelveston Road School
Chelveston Road School is a special free school in Higham Ferrers for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 144 pupils and room for 145. About 49 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 2023.
Chelveston Road, Higham Ferrers, NN10 8HN01933 834490chelvestonroadschool.orgMr Mark Adams headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 10 October 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
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 North Northamptonshire 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: Moderate learning difficulty (36), language and communications needs (35), Severe learning difficulty (27), Autistic spectrum disorder (19), Specific learning difficulty (13), emotional and mental health (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 144 | 117 | 92 | 57 | 28 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 47% | 44% | 39% | 40% | 36% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 5% | 6% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 89.4% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 10.7% | 8.6% | 6.8% | 10.6% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 7.3% | 6.7% | 5.1% | 9.9% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.4% | 1.9% | 1.7% | 0.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 31.0% | 31.4% | 25.0% | 32.1% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 13.7 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 7.1 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other special 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ferrers School | Academy | 730 m | 937 | Report card 2026 | 16 | Compare |
| Higham Ferrers Junior School | Academy | 860 m | 322 | Requires improvement 2023 | 1 | Compare |
| Higham Ferrers Nursery and Infant School | Academy | 930 m | 255 | Good 2020 | 65 | Compare |
| Henry Chichele Primary School | Council | 0.6 miles | 341 | Report card 2025 | 8 | Compare |
| Denfield Park Primary School | Council | 1.1 miles | 444 | Good 2023 | 34 | Compare |
| Rushden Academy | Academy | 1.2 miles | 961 | Good 2022 | 24 | Compare |
| Newton Road School | Academy | 1.4 miles | 196 | No overall grade 2025 | 2 | Compare |
| Alfred Lord Tennyson School | Council | 1.5 miles | 147 | No overall grade 2024 | 15 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Chelveston Road School a good school?
Chelveston Road School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in October 2023.
What is Chelveston Road School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Chelveston Road School good at its last full inspection on 10 October 2023.
How many pupils does Chelveston Road School have?
144 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 145 places, so it is 99% full.
What is attendance like at Chelveston Road School?
Pupils were in school 89.4% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 31% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Chelveston Road School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Chelveston Road, Higham Ferrers, NN10 8HN
- Telephone
- 01933 834490
- Website
- www.chelvestonroadschool.org
- Headteacher
- Mr Mark Adams
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-18, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Better Together Learning Trust (2 schools)
- Local authority
- North Northamptonshire
- Ward
- Higham Ferrers
- Constituency
- Wellingborough and Rushden
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2021 (new provision)
- URN
- 148583 · LAESTAB 9407007 · UKPRN 10088747
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.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- 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, academy accounts return 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.