Walton Hall Academy
Walton Hall Academy is a sponsored special academy in Stafford for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 223 pupils, 68 more than it has places for. About 46 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 2022.
Stafford Road, Eccleshall, Stafford, ST21 6JR01785 850420waltonhallacademy.org.ukMrs Julie Wood academy principalAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 6 July 2022 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
31 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 | Staffordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 31 | 27 | 22 | 24 | 18 | 19 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 0.1 | 0.3 | – | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 44.0 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -1.73 | – | -1.76 | -1.99 | -1.60 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 38% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 61% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 0.00 | 0.02 | – | 0.23 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 3.77 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 32% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 0.0 | 0.9 | – | 0.5 | 3.0 | 0.3 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 0.2 | 0.0 | – | 4.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 0.0 | – | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | – | – |
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 Staffordshire 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 (84), language and communications needs (36), emotional and mental health (27), Moderate learning difficulty (25), Specific learning difficulty (22), Severe learning difficulty (8).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 223 | 216 | 201 | 191 | 189 | 167 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 48% | 48% | 45% | 44% | 40% | 38% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 6% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 99% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 90.2% 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 | 9.8% | 10.4% | 11.0% | 11.4% | 18.8% | 10.1% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 7.9% | 8.6% | 9.9% | 9.4% | 17.7% | 8.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 2.0% | 1.1% | 1.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 26.7% | 28.4% | 36.2% | 38.4% | 73.8% | 26.5% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 1.9 | 3.0 | 11.5 | 4.8 | 2.4 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 22 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 86% | 100% | 96% | 96% |
| Education | 86% | 96% | 96% | 96% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 4% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 9% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop Lonsdale Church of England Primary Academy | Academy | 1.4 miles | 287 | No overall grade 2024 | 73 | Compare |
| All Saints Church of England Primary School and Nursery | Academy | 2.4 miles | 72 | Requires improvement 2022 | 2 | Compare |
| Cooper Perry Primary School | Council | 2.9 miles | 206 | Report card 2026 | 39 | Compare |
| Springfields First School | Council | 3.0 miles | 138 | Good 2023 | 82 | Compare |
| Woodseaves CE Primary Academy | Academy | 3.5 miles | 89 | Good 2023 | 99 | Compare |
| The Yarlet School | Independent | 4.0 miles | 119 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Marshlands School | Council | 4.1 miles | 201 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Greenhall | Academy | 4.1 miles | 39 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Walton Hall Academy a good school?
Walton Hall Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in July 2022.
What is Walton Hall Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Walton Hall Academy good at its last full inspection on 6 July 2022. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How good are Walton Hall Academy'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 0.1, 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 Walton Hall Academy have?
223 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 155 places, so it is 144% full.
What is attendance like at Walton Hall Academy?
Pupils were in school 90.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 27% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Walton Hall Academy 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
- Stafford Road, Eccleshall, Stafford, ST21 6JR
- Telephone
- 01785 850420
- Website
- waltonhallacademy.org.uk
- Academy Principal
- Mrs Julie Wood
- Type of school
- Sponsored special academy (Academy special sponsor led, academies)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Shaw Education Trust (31 schools)
- Local authority
- Staffordshire
- Ward
- Eccleshall
- Constituency
- Stafford
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 October 2014 (new provision)
- URN
- 140997 · LAESTAB 8607001 · UKPRN 10046276
- Formerly
- Walton Hall School
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, 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.