Willow Vale School
Willow Vale School is a pupil referral unit in Taunton for boys and girls aged 5 to 16. It has 60 pupils and room for 75. About 62 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 2024.
Byron Road, Taunton, TA1 2JD01823 349338willowvale.org.ukMs Kim Lawrence (Headteacher) area headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 2 May 2024 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.
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 Somerset 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: emotional and mental health (26), Moderate learning difficulty (3), language and communications needs (3), Other difficulty or disability (1), Specific learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 60 | 59 | 59 | 34 | 37 | 23 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 62% | 48% | 37% | 68% | 62% | 65% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 27% | 42% | 53% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 24% | 14% | 27% | 22% | 52% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 22% | 31% | 74% | 78% | 48% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 11 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 71%, compared with – for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 73% | 47% | 36% |
| Education | 55% | 41% | 27% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 18% | 6% | 9% |
| Not in education, work or training | 18% | 29% | 46% |
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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holway Park Community Primary School | Council | 240 m | 335 | Good 2019 | 15 | Compare |
| Blackbrook Primary School | Academy | 610 m | 222 | Good 2023 | 62 | Compare |
| Richard Huish College | Academy 16-19 converter | 740 m | 0 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School | Academy | 770 m | 363 | Good 2023 | 19 | Compare |
| King's College Taunton | Independent | 870 m | 389 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Silver Bridge School | Independent | 880 m | 58 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Minerva Primary School | Academy | 920 m | 140 | Requires improvement 2022 | 6 | Compare |
| Bishop Fox's School | Academy | 930 m | 1,123 | Good 2023 | 66 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Willow Vale School a good school?
Willow Vale School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in May 2024.
What is Willow Vale School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Willow Vale School good at its last full inspection on 2 May 2024.
How many pupils does Willow Vale School have?
60 pupils aged 5 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 75 places, so it is 80% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Byron Road, Taunton, TA1 2JD
- Telephone
- 01823 349338
- Website
- www.willowvale.org.uk
- Area Headteacher
- Ms Kim Lawrence (Headteacher)
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 5-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Somerset
- Ward
- Taunton South
- Constituency
- Taunton and Wellington
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2004 (new provision)
- URN
- 134758 · LAESTAB 9331115 · UKPRN 10025486
- Formerly
- Taunton Deane Partnership College, Bridgwater Centre
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, 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.