Rivertree Free School
Rivertree Free School is a special free school in Bedford for boys and girls aged 2 to 19. It has 126 pupils and room for 200. About 35 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England.
Hillgrounds Road, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 8QP01234 745200rivertree.beds.sch.ukMr Michael Davis headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet. That is normal for a school that opened in 2025: new schools usually get their first inspection within three years.
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 Bedford council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with autism, severe learning difficulties.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Bedford with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: language and communications needs (64), Autistic spectrum disorder (34), Severe learning difficulty (14), Other difficulty or disability (7), Moderate learning difficulty (2), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (2).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | England |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 7.5% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 24.6% | 12.8% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greys Education Centre | Academy alternative provision converter | 260 m | 57 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| Bedford Road Primary Academy | Academy | 270 m | 365 | Report card 2025 | 4 | Compare |
| Grange Academy | Academy | 550 m | 161 | Good 2022 | – | Compare |
| Balliol Primary School | Council | 870 m | 355 | Good 2022 | 17 | Compare |
| Camestone School | Council | 0.7 miles | 408 | Good 2022 | 34 | Compare |
| Kempston Rural Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 439 | Good 2023 | 59 | Compare |
| Daubeney Academy | Academy | 0.8 miles | 576 | No overall grade 2025 | 62 | Compare |
| Springfield Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 365 | Good 2022 | 15 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Rivertree Free School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Rivertree Free School yet.
How many pupils does Rivertree Free School have?
126 pupils aged 2 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 200 places, so it is 63% full.
What is attendance like at Rivertree Free School?
Pupils were in school 92.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 25% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Rivertree Free School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for autism, severe learning difficulties. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does Rivertree Free 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
- Hillgrounds Road, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 8QP
- Telephone
- 01234 745200
- Website
- rivertree.beds.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Michael Davis
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 2-19, with nursery, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Bedford Inclusive Learning and Training Trust (4 schools)
- Local authority
- Bedford
- Ward
- Kempston North
- Constituency
- Bedford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 10 February 2025 (academy free school)
- URN
- 150792 · LAESTAB 8227000 · UKPRN 10095883
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.