Valley Academy

School overview

Valley Academy is a secondary school serving Bradford, classified by the DfE as a free school. It has 364 pupils aged 11 to 16 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Valley Academy 'Requires improvement'. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 38.7, below the national average of 46. That marks an improvement of 7.9 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

46% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, in line with the national average of about 45%. 62% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. Valley Academy was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 45 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 81% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 12.5%. There are about 16.5 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 54% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. If you are considering Valley Academy, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.