The Valley School
The Valley School is a council special school in Stevenage for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 193 pupils, 28 more than it has places for. About 41 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2024, no overall grade.
Broadhall Way, Stevenage, SG2 9BN01438 747274thevalley.herts.sch.ukMr David Pearce headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 5 November 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 12 July 2023 | Ungraded | School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
35 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Hertfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 35 | 29 | 33 | 33 | 25 | 23 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | – | 0.4 | 0.5 | 50.9 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -1.64 | -1.72 | – | -1.87 | -1.61 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 53% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 72% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.03 | – | 0.01 | 0.00 | 4.58 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 47% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | – | 0.4 | 0.5 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | – | 0.6 | 0.5 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 0.5 | 0.3 | – | 0.4 | 0.5 | – | – |
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. Every gap at this school is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
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 Hertfordshire 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, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication.
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 Hertfordshire with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Moderate learning difficulty (119), Autistic spectrum disorder (39), emotional and mental health (13), language and communications needs (8), Other difficulty or disability (5), Specific learning difficulty (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 193 | 190 | 180 | 172 | 161 | 156 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 41% | 43% | 44% | 42% | 44% | 44% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 7% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.7% 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 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 9.3% | 8.8% | 8.6% | 10.0% | 17.3% | 9.7% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 7.9% | 7.3% | 7.4% | 7.5% | 13.9% | 6.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.2% | 2.5% | 3.4% | 3.6% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 20.6% | 22.4% | 27.4% | 25.8% | 53.8% | 29.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 18.4 | 14.4 | 20.9 | 21.1 | 3.2 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 33 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 93%, compared with 89% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 91% | 88% | 90% | 90% |
| Education | 91% | 85% | 90% | 90% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 3% | 9% | 10% | 10% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roebuck Academy | Academy | 270 m | 452 | Report card 2026 | 28 | Compare |
| Peartree Way Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 600 m | 98 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| St Margaret Clitherow Roman Catholic Primary School | Academy | 700 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Greenside School | Council | 730 m | 197 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Peartree Spring Primary School | Foundation | 870 m | 626 | Good 2023 | 33 | Compare |
| St Nicholas CofE (VA) Primary School and Nursery | Church of England | 940 m | 186 | No overall grade 2025 | 6 | Compare |
| Barnwell School | Foundation | 0.6 miles | 1,270 | Report card 2026 | 20 | Compare |
| North Hertfordshire College | Further education | 0.7 miles | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Valley School a good school?
The Valley School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in November 2024.
What is The Valley School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated The Valley School not judged at its last full inspection on 5 November 2024.
How good are The Valley School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 0.2, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished well over a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does The Valley School have?
193 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 165 places, so it is 117% full.
What is attendance like at The Valley School?
Pupils were in school 90.7% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 21% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does The Valley School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for autism, moderate learning difficulties, speech, language and communication. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Broadhall Way, Stevenage, SG2 9BN
- Telephone
- 01438 747274
- Website
- thevalley.herts.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr David Pearce
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Hertfordshire
- Ward
- Shephall
- Constituency
- Stevenage
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 117669 · LAESTAB 9197010 · UKPRN 10015947
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- 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, consistent financial reporting 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.