The Skills Hub
The Skills Hub is a free schools alternative provision in West Drayton for boys and girls aged 5 to 19. It has 48 pupils and room for 120. About 44 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted visited in December 2025 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Falling Lane, Yiewsley, West Drayton, UB7 8AB01895 447102theskillshub.orgCraig Van-de-Velde headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 9 December 2025. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Ofsted has serious worries about this school. It is in special measures.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 4 March 2025 | S5 Inspection | Not judged |
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 Hillingdon 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: Autistic spectrum disorder (6), emotional and mental health (4), language and communications needs (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 48 | 50 | 103 | 55 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 40% | 38% | 39% | 27% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 29% | 30% | 20% | 26% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 32% | 20% | 31% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 4% | 0% | 0% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 24 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 36%, compared with 40% for everyone else.
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 primary 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 PRIDE Academy | Free school | 0 m | 126 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Rabbsfarm Primary School | Council | 160 m | 616 | No overall grade 2025 | 15 | Compare |
| St Matthew's CofE Primary School | Academy | 560 m | 399 | Good 2022 | 42 | Compare |
| Park Academy West London | Academy | 770 m | 795 | Requires improvement 2023 | 8 | Compare |
| Meadow High School | Council | 830 m | 305 | No overall grade 2025 | – | Compare |
| Moorcroft School | Academy | 900 m | 131 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Colham Manor Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 627 | Not inspected | 12 | Compare |
| Cowley St Laurence CofE Primary School | Academy | 0.7 miles | 395 | Good 2022 | 34 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Skills Hub a good school?
The Skills Hub doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from December 2025 rated its teaching as urgent improvement.
What is The Skills Hub's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 9 December 2025 it rated teaching as urgent improvement, achievement as needs attention, behaviour and attendance as urgent improvement, leadership as urgent improvement, and found that pupils were not being kept safe enough.
How many pupils does The Skills Hub have?
48 pupils aged 5 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 120 places, so it is 40% full.
Does The Skills Hub 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
- Falling Lane, Yiewsley, West Drayton, UB7 8AB
- Telephone
- 01895 447102
- Website
- theskillshub.org
- Headteacher
- Craig Van-de-Velde
- Type of school
- Free schools alternative provision (Free schools alternative provision, free schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Orchard Hill College Academy Trust (13 schools)
- Local authority
- Hillingdon
- Ward
- Yiewsley
- Constituency
- Uxbridge and South Ruislip
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 January 2023 (academy free school)
- URN
- 149033 · LAESTAB 3121102 · UKPRN 10090897
- Formerly
- The Skills Hub
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.
- 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.