Grace Academy Darlaston

Grace Academy Darlaston meets the expected standard across most areas of its work, while personal development and wellbeing is a notable strength. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils describe a happy, calm and safe school where behaviour is typically good and bullying is dealt with effectively. The school is part of the Tove Learning Trust and has recently seen a new principal and two new vice-principals; it serves a community with well above-average levels of disadvantage and SEND support, and leaders have prioritised inclusion, safeguarding and attendance. Leaders have built an inclusive culture. The inclusion hub is particularly effective in helping pupils regulate, build confidence and return to mainstream lessons, and the wider personal development offer is broad, inclusive and well tracked. Pupils benefit from mentoring, PSHE and careers guidance, and disadvantaged pupils typically achieve well over time. Leadership is stable, staff are positive, and most parents would recommend the school. However, there are areas for improvement. Overall attainment in English and maths and Attainment 8 was below national averages in 2025, although leaders attribute recent dips largely to staffing turbulence and progress over time has been broadly in line with national averages. Persistent absence remains above the national average and is a persistent challenge for a small number of pupils. Classroom inclusive practice and assessment are not yet consistently effective across the school, and in the sixth form academic courses are less consistent than vocational courses. Leaders have correctly identified these priorities: adaptive teaching, consistent assessment, and further improving attendance, including for pupils with SEND.

Strengths

• Safeguarding arrangements are met, with an open culture where concerns are identified and acted on.
• Pupils feel safe, happy and able to be themselves at school.
• Personal development and wellbeing provision is a notable strength, with a highly strategic and inclusive offer.
• Pupils take part in a vibrant range of extra-curricular activities, and leaders address barriers to participation.
• The PSHE curriculum helps pupils understand relationships, safety, online safety and fundamental British values.
• The mentoring programme has a profound impact on mentors and younger pupils.
• Pupils say there is always someone to support their wellbeing.
• Leaders identify gaps in reading, writing and mathematics and help pupils catch up, including pupils with SEND.
• Disadvantaged pupils typically achieve well over time.
• Attendance is improving and suspensions are reducing over time.
• Pupils typically behave well, move around school calmly and lessons are rarely disrupted.
• Leaders have responded effectively to pupils' views on bullying.
• Teaching and curriculum have improved over time, with new checks on understanding having a positive impact in many subjects.
• The inclusion hub is highly effective at preparing pupils for mainstream school life.
• Alternative provision is safe and purposeful.
• Leadership and governance understand the school's context and prioritise inclusion, safeguarding and attendance.
• Staff are overwhelmingly positive about leaders and feel well supported with workload.
• Governance meets statutory duties and ensures funding for disadvantaged pupils is used effectively.
• The sixth form is inclusive and vocational courses are taught effectively.
• Post-16 students receive suitable careers advice and wider activities, preparing them well for next steps.

Areas for Improvement

• Overall attainment in English and maths GCSE and Attainment 8 was below national averages in 2025.
• Persistent absence remains above the national average and is a complex, persistent challenge for a small number of pupils.
• Classroom inclusive practice is still developing; some adaptations for pupils with additional needs are less effective.
• Agreed approaches to assessment are not yet consistently applied across the school.
• Teachers' checks on learning are not consistently used to adapt teaching and address gaps.
• In post-16 academic courses, attainment is less consistent and teachers' use of checks to plan future teaching is less well developed.
• There is more work to do to make the impact of new assessment expectations consistently effective across all subjects.
• Attendance for pupils with SEND should continue to improve.
• A-level average point score and value added were below national averages.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Grace Academy Darlaston attended 89.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 35.6% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 10.5% of pupils at Grace Academy Darlaston were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 6 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Grace Academy Darlaston had 16.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 14.5% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 16.6% of pupils at Grace Academy Darlaston were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Grace Academy Darlaston received £8,833 and spent £8,861 for each of its 1,071 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £625,000 (£584 per pupil).

Across all 13 schools of Tove Learning Trust, income was £7,790 and spending £7,801 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Wednesbury · Walsall local authority: places and applications

Grace Academy Darlaston is part of Tove Learning Trust, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Grace Academy Solihull Birmingham
• Grace Academy Coventry Coventry
• Sponne School Towcester
• Wootton Primary School Northampton
• Roade Village Academy Roade
• Elizabeth Woodville School Milton Keynes
• Huxlow Academy Irthlingborough
• Rushden Academy Rushden
• Whitefriars Primary School Rushden
• Stantonbury School Milton Keynes

What is Grace Academy Darlaston's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Grace Academy Darlaston is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Grace Academy Darlaston last inspected by Ofsted?

Grace Academy Darlaston was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Grace Academy Darlaston have?

Grace Academy Darlaston has 1,059 pupils on roll.

What age range does Grace Academy Darlaston cover?

Grace Academy Darlaston for pupils aged 11 to 19.

What are Grace Academy Darlaston's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 41.0, and 23% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Grace Academy Darlaston?

Grace Academy Darlaston is at Herberts Park Road, Darlaston, Wednesbury, West Midlands, WS10 8QJ.