Stour Valley Community School

Stour Valley Community School is performing well overall, achieving a 'Good' rating across all inspection areas. The school fosters a supportive environment where positive relationships between pupils and staff are a hallmark. Pupils feel valued and safe, benefitting from an ambitious curriculum that promotes engagement in learning. However, while the school has identified areas for improvement, particularly in curriculum delivery in some subjects and specific support measures for pupils with reading challenges, it is on a positive trajectory characteristic of a well-run establishment under the Stour Valley Educational Trust. This marks the school's first routine inspection since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects ongoing efforts to recover and enhance educational standards.

Strengths

• Pupils experience a culture prioritizing their well-being.
• Positive and supportive relationships fostered between pupils and staff.
• Ambitious curriculum designed with high expectations.
• Teachers effectively assess and check pupils' understanding.
• Strong support for pupils with SEND ensures high-quality work.
• Engaging extracurricular activities enhance student experience.
• Effective safeguarding measures are in place.

Areas for Improvement

• Some curriculum areas lack high expectations and student engagement.
• Interventions for early readers are not precise enough.
• Parents of pupils with SEND feel their voices are not sufficiently considered.

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 Stour Valley Community School attended 89.9% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 25.5% 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, 7.2% of pupils at Stour Valley Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No 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 Stour Valley Community School had 17.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 13.1% 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, 13.4% of pupils at Stour Valley Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 5.1% 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 2023–24 Stour Valley Community School received £7,024 and spent £7,394 for each of its 579 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £140,000 (£242 per pupil).

Across all 22 schools of Anglian Learning, income was £7,149 and spending £7,313 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 Sudbury · Suffolk local authority: places and applications

Stour Valley Community School is part of Anglian Learning, which runs 22 schools. The nearest others:

• Clare Community Primary School Sudbury
• Meadow Primary School Cambridge
• Linton Heights Junior School Cambridge
• Wimbish Primary Academy Saffron Walden
• Howard Community Academy Bury St Edmunds
• Linton Village College Cambridge
• Kennett Primary School Newmarket
• The Pines Primary School Bury St. Edmunds
• Bottisham Community Primary School Cambridge
• Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport Saffron Walden

What is Stour Valley Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Stour Valley Community School is Good, from an inspection in June 2023.

When was Stour Valley Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Stour Valley Community School was last inspected in June 2023.

How many pupils does Stour Valley Community School have?

Stour Valley Community School has 569 pupils on roll.

What age range does Stour Valley Community School cover?

Stour Valley Community School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Stour Valley Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 44.5, and 43% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Stour Valley Community School?

Stour Valley Community School is at Cavendish Road, Clare, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 8PJ.